HOME BY THE ELECTION

U.S. sets requirements for leaving Iraq (PAUL HAVEN, July 16, 2003, Chicago Sun-Times)

Iraq's U.S. administrator said today that U.S. and British troops would leave the country once a constitution and a democratic
government are in place--setting a rough timeline for ending the military occupation.

L. Paul Bremer, the top U.S. official in Iraq, said that with the establishment of the Governing Council on Sunday--the first national postwar Iraqi political body--it is now up to Iraqis to write a new constitution and send it to voters for approval in a referendum.

''Then our job, the coalition's job, will be done,'' Bremer told reporters. ''We have no desire to stay any longer than necessary.''

The Governing Council is meant to be the forerunner of a 200-250 member constitutional assembly that is planned to start in September drawing up a draft constitution. That process is expected to take nine months to a year and free elections to pick a government are expected to follow.

That's too long for us to stay, but not by too too much. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 16, 2003 10:22 AM