A FRESH START IN IRAQ

The news about and from Iraq seems unrelentingly bad. U.S. soldiers are killed almost daily by guerrilla attacks, the cost of the continuing occupation has doubled and charges that the president intentionally lead the country into war based on false intelligence reports hang over the whole affair. So it was heartening this week to hear that something good was happening in Baghdad.

A Governing Council for Iraq was established and met for the first time. On Monday, the 25-member group voted to send a delegation to the United Nations Security Council and set up committees to prioritize tasks for the coming weeks. While the council is largely under the control of U.S. administrator of Iraq, Paul Bremer, it represents an important first step toward self-government. Some, namely Arab groups in surrounding countries, criticize the group for being selected rather than elected. However, it is too early to hold elections, primarily because the country is still in disarray as U.S. and British forces continue to come under attack, actions blamed on the remnants of groups loyal to Mr. Hussein. Yet, they are right that the sooner true governing power can be turned over to Iraqis the better.

In the meantime, the council is a good attempt at relying on a representative mix of prominent Iraqis to bring stability and order to a country that has been ruled by fear and terror for more than 30 years.

The council is heavily tilted toward Shiites, the country’s majority group long oppressed by Saddam Hussein’s minority Sunni government, but it aims to be representative of the country’s ethnic and religious groups. It consists of 13 Shiites, five Sunnis, five Kurds, one Turkmen and one Christian. Three of its members are women.

The council will have many hurdles to clear – overcoming tensions between ethnic groups, balancing religious and secular views and quelling misgivings among those who stayed in Iraq for the duration of Mr. Hussein’s rule that the exiles who have now come back had it too easy. All these groups have something to contribute and must remain productive members of the council if their country is to be reborn.

“I helped deliver thousands of Iraqi babies, and now I am taking part in the birth of a new country and a new rule based on women’s rights, humanity, unity and freedom,” said Raja Habib al-Khuzaai, one of the female council members and the director of a maternity hospital in southern Iraq.

A new Iraq is in its infancy. How vigorously it grows will depend on the nurturing of its many parents, including now, the United States and the Governing Council for Iraq.