Iraqis on U.S.-Created Local Councils Feeling Vulnerable as American Pullout Looms
Omar Rahman Rahmani
BAGHDAD -- Weeks after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in the spring of 2003  as parts of the capital were still smoldering  American soldiers and diplomats turned to men like Hassan Shama and Omar Rahman Rahmani in their quest to plant the seeds of representative democracy.
 In Baghdad  Iraq's capital  they held impromptu neighborhood caucuses to appoint district and neighborhood advisory councils. The local government bodies were given no official charter  lawmaking power or public budget. In the years that followed  as the capital became a bloody battleground and the country descended into near-anarchy  council members were among the U.S. military's staunchest allies. They provided information about extremists  offered insight into Iraqi society and gave American-imposed security measures a veneer of Iraqi legitimacy.
 "They used to come to our meetings  and they had all the power in their hands " Rahmani said. "Now we don't have any power."
 Rahmani visited the Bush White House last year as part of a delegation of local Iraqi politicians. When he got his turn to shake George W. Bush's hand  he said  he told the president that democracy in Iraq was not taking root.
 Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government and the Baghdad provincial council  also led by Shiites  seemed uninterested in working with the local councils  Rahmani said he told Bush.
 "Every party is working in Saddam's shadow " Rahmani said  referring to ousted President Saddam Hussein. "Everyone wants to be a Saddam. Everyone wants power in their own hands."
BAGHDAD -- Weeks after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in the spring of 2003  as parts of the capital were still smoldering  American soldiers and diplomats turned to men like [TGT] in [TGT] quest to plant the seeds of representative democracy.
 In Baghdad  Iraq's capital  they held impromptu neighborhood caucuses to appoint district and neighborhood advisory councils. The local government bodies were given no official charter  lawmaking power or public budget. In the years that followed  as the capital became a bloody battleground and the country descended into near-anarchy  council members were among the U.S. military's staunchest allies. They provided information about extremists  offered insight into Iraqi society and gave American-imposed security measures a veneer of Iraqi legitimacy.
 "They used to come to our meetings  and they had all the power in their hands " Rahmani said. "Now we don't have any power."
 Rahmani visited the Bush White House last year as part of a delegation of local Iraqi politicians. When he got his turn to shake George W. Bush's hand  he said  he told the president that democracy in Iraq was not taking root.
 Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government and the Baghdad provincial council  also led by Shiites  seemed uninterested in working with the local councils  Rahmani said he told Bush.
 "Every party is working in Saddam's shadow " Rahmani said  referring to ousted President Saddam Hussein. "Everyone wants to be a Saddam. Everyone wants power in their own hands."