Students reflect on Iraq handover plans

One week before the United States hands over power to an interim Iraqi government, IU students reflect on the situation Iraq and the war that brought about the changes the country is going through.\nFreshman Tracey Nordberg, whose brother served in the U.S. Army in Iraq, said despite the unrest that followed the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime, the war had been worth fighting. She added she expected the ongoing violence to subside.\n"It does not look good right now, but I really believe in the long run things will improve," she said.\nIraqi insurgents along with foreign fighters are suspected in leading an insurgency that has plagued the country since U.S. and coalition forces toppled Saddam Hussein's regime in March of 2003.\nBurim Turkaj, a senior from Kosovo, said the United States ran into trouble in Iraq and harmed relations with several former allies in the international community when it chose to invade Iraq unilaterally. \nAlthough 33 other nations contributed forces to fight along side U.S. forces, the war was widely viewed internationally as a unilaterist act by the U.S. \nEighty-four percent of the coalition soldiers in Iraq were U.S. servicemen as of March 2004.\nTurkar said U.S. intentions were questioned following the inability of U.S. forces to find stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, which the Bush administration used as a basis for the war. Prior to the invasion of Iraq, the country was in violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441. Ten previous unheeded resolutions also existed calling on Iraq to unequivocally demonstrate that it had dismantled its stockpiles of WMD and the programs associated with their development following the end of the first Gulf War.\n"The main claim was to go there after weapons of mass destruction and the U.S. failed to prove they were there," Turkaj said. "Then they changed gears and they were saying we are there to liberate the people."\nKristen Springer, an incoming freshman, said she was disappointed with the postwar preparations and handling of Iraq. \n"It was horribly planned out," she said, "even though the president made up his mind and stuck with it. I feel, even when he was wrong he did not make steps to improve things. It was like, 'This is how I feel and this is how it's going to be done, and if it is the wrong way, oh well.'" \nOn June 1, an interim Iraqi government was appointed by the Coalition Provisional Authority, which currently governs Iraq in consultation with the Iraqi Governing Council, a council of Iraqi notables selected to advise the CPA.\nThe interim Iraqi government, which will be headed by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, has been given the task of providing security in the country and preparing for elections to select members to the National Assembly in January 2005.\nThe National Assembly will be expected to formulate a permanent constitution for the country and organize general elections which are scheduled to be held in December of 2005.\nTurkaj said he doubted the level of sovereignty the Iraqi interim government would enjoy when it assumes responsibility for the country in one week. \nReferring to the Iraqi interim government, Turkaj said he doubts there will be much of a transition on July 1.\n"I don't think (the Iraqi interim government is) going to really take over anything," he said. "They are still going to be monitored by the U.S. government. They are pretty much going to play the game the way the U.S. wants."\n-- Contact nation and world editor Rami Chami at rchami@indiana.edu.