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Void at the top

WITH THE capture of Saddam Hussein by the American forces, the leadership vacuum in Iraq has intensified. Members of the United States-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, with a couple of exceptions, have little credibility. As a result, the Iraqis are digging into their recent past to look for symbols that can rally public support.

Not surprisingly then, full-page articles have started appearing profiling Abdul Karim Qasem, the Republican leader who dethroned the monarchy in 1958, and was himself overthrown by the Ba'athists. "Viva Abdul Karim Qasem", the graffiti on walls in parts of Baghdad says.

Sensing that the public mood is against the governing council, the monarchists are also now going into political overdrive. Like the widely respected Shia leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the Constitutional Monarchy Movement, led by Sharif Ali, is also seeking direct elections preceding the drafting of a new Iraqi constitution. "I think the argument that security conditions in Iraq are not ripe for holding direct elections immediately are self-serving because many in the governing council know that they will be out of political contention once the polls take place," says Sadiq Al Mossawi the head of the political office of the party.

The monarchists are feverishly networking with Sunni and Shia leaders, who have not been associated with the American occupation and are outside the governing council, as well as tribal leaders, to position themselves for a significant political role in the future.

Among Saddam Hussein's foes, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), a Shia organisation suspected of having leanings towards neighbouring Iran, with whom Iraq has fought an eight-year war, has been the most vocal in demanding the former Iraqi President's speedy trial. On Tuesday, the SCIRI led a well-publicised demonstration demanding that Saddam be tried inside Iraq and it was hinted that he should be executed. But in an apparent retaliation by Saddam's supporters, Muhammad Al Hakim, a senior functionary of the party, was assassinated the next day. --A.A.

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