Wednesday, January 14, 2004


Yahoo! News - U.S. May Change Plans for Iraq Handover
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is taking a fresh look at its plans to turn over power in Iraq by June 30. While that remains the deadline, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday it's too early to tell whether it will have to be changed.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani demanded this week that any agreement to let U.S. forces remain in postwar Iraq be submitted to directly elected representatives. The current U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council agreed last November that the next government could be chosen in regional caucuses, not full-scale elections.

No way this happens by June 30th.