Iraqis impatient for promised democracy

Four months after the US occupied Iraq, citizens wonder when they will have a say in the new government.

By Cameron W. Barr | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

BAGHDAD – Four months after US officials began administering Iraq, many Iraqis are still waiting to see what role they will have in determining the country's new political system.

The workings of both the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and the Iraqi Governing Council it appointed in mid-July take place behind high walls and rolls of concertina wire, creating a sense of distance that leaves many citizens feeling disenfranchised from the creation of a political framework for the new Iraq.

Sergio Vieira de Mello detected this distance. In an interview a week before being killed by a truck bomb Aug. 19, the UN's top representative in Iraq - a close observer and strong supporter of the US and British effort to establish a democracy here - said: "Let's make sure they come out of their ivory tower and communicate with the Iraqi people."

But the common complaint of many Iraqis - that the US is not fulfilling its vow to create a democracy - is based on more than their sense of being removed from power.

more