MUCH TO BE BUOYANT ABOUT:

Bush welcomes new government, warns of more violence (PETE YOST, 6/01/04, Associated Press)

"I am confident" that the new Iraqi leadership want the U.S. military to remain, Bush said. "People on the ground...the Iraqis, feel comfortable in asking us to stay."

"The naming of the new interim government brings us one step closer to realizing the dream of millions of Iraqis: a fully sovereign nation with a representative government that protects their rights and serves their needs," Bush said.

Clearly in a buoyant mood, Bush took questions in the Rose Garden for about 30 minutes.

He said the next step is getting approval of a new U.N. Security Council resolution to set conditions under which the interim government will operate and setting up a mechanism for moving toward elections next year.

"I've been speaking with a variety of world leaders, to encourage them to - by telling them we're willing to work with them to achieve language we can live with but, more importantly, language that the Iraqi government can live with," he said.

Bush, who made a surprise visit to U.S. troops in Baghdad on Thanksgiving, said he would like to return for a longer visit - but could not say when Iraq would be a safe enough place to permit such a visit.

He shrugged off some criticism of the United States by Iraq's new president, Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer, who was named president of the interim government after the Americans' preferred candidate turned down the post.

"Mr. Brahimi put together a government that's going to be, first and foremost, loyal to the Iraqi people. And that's important. It's a government with which I believe we can work," Bush said.

We're a month away from losing interest in the generally successful evolution of Iraq into one of the Middle East's most democratic states, marking just about the only American war in which we fully achieved our goal.

MORE:
New leaders face a skeptical Iraq: The Governing Council dissolved Tuesday as a new Iraqi government, with a mandate through January, was unveiled. (Nicholas Blanford, 6/02/04, CS Monitor)

"They must concentrate on the issues of security, electricity, the economy, and the life of the people," says Saad Jawad, professor of political science at Baghdad University. "They should work hard on these issues, and if they do, they stand a chance of being supported."

The formation of the government was announced after a deadlock over the choice of the president was resolved. Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawar, a US and Saudi-educated businessman and tribal leader, was selected as president after his rival, Adnan Pachachi, an 81-year-old Sunni politician, declined the post.

Although the presidency is largely a ceremonial position, Sheikh Yawar is widely respected among Iraq's Shiite and Kurdish communities as well as his own Sunni constituency. He has been critical of US military policy, and in his first public remarks as president-designate, Sheikh Yawar called on the UN to approve full sovereignty for his country.

"We the Iraqis look forward to being granted full sovereignty through a Security Council resolution to enable us to rebuild a free, independent, democratic, and federal unified homeland," he said.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 1, 2004 6:16 PM