PRIORITIES:

The tragic shooting deaths, in the line of duty, of two Detroit Police Officers recently are justifiably getting front page headlines in the Detroit papers. But not, apparently, the all too familiar news, that more U.S. troops were killed in Iraq. Just imagine what the news coverage would be like if one or two Police Officers in the State of New York, or Texas were getting blown up or shot to death on a daily basis for the past six months. The public would be up in arms. The Governor would call out the National Guard for REINFORCEMENTS. The Governors poll ratings would be in the toilet. It would be havok. THAT'S your analogous situation, Britt.

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It would appear that the Iraqi's desire for democracy and AWOL's desire to "hand over" governance to anyone who will do his bidding, on July 1, are going to be mutually exclusive.

Sistani opposes Appointed Transitional Government
by Juan Cole

The Jordan Times reported on the various plans being put forward for the July1 US hand-off to a sovereign Iraqi government. Since direct elections probably cannot be held before that date, the inclination seems to be to hand sovereignty to a perhaps expanded, but still appointed, Interim Governing Council. This latter plan may run up against severe opposition from the Shiites. The Jordan Times notes, "Adnan Al Asadi, a senior member of the Islamic Da'wa Party, and other politicians who have met Sistani, say he wants any transitional assembly to be chosen by Iraqis. Asadi said Sistani wanted the Iraqi people to participate in setting up any new body so no one would question its legitimacy as had happened with the US-appointed Governing Council.

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UN to defy Shia clerics and call for delay in Iraq poll

U.S. Presidential Politics and Self-Rule for Iraqis