A lot more sovereignty than they have right now

Rumsfeld press conference today, about Chalabi: “well, on anyone, we're not in the position of ruling people in or ruling people out, and have no intention to. Clearly, there's a vetting process that's taking place by the United Nations representative, Mr. Brahimi, and by the Iraqi people and by the Iraqi Governing Council, and certainly by the Americans. And they all look at these people, and at some point there will be consensus developed, I suppose, in a manner possibly not dissimilar from that we saw in Afghanistan, where there may be some meetings, whether they're public or formal as opposed to informal or not, but the names will be up, and someone will rise to the top and – some bodies, plural, undoubtedly, given the nature of the country. And that then will be the interim government for a period, until the constitution is fashioned and then elections are held sometime next year or the year thereafter, I guess.”

Oddly enough, those are almost the exact words of Madison’s first draft of the Constitution.

And John “Death squads? What death squads?” Negroponte told the Senate, in his confirmation hearings, that after June 30, Iraqis will have “a lot more sovereignty than they have right now,” which is also taken from that draft: “We the People, in order to have a lot more sovereignty than we have right now...”

At those hearings, Chris “Death squads? What death squads?” Dodd and Barbara “Death squads? What death squads?” Boxer said that they would put aside their previous differences with Negroponte over his role in Reagan’s Central American policy out of personal respect for him.

Kamen at the WaPo asks the question, ambassador to what? Normally, the receiving country has to agree to an ambassador before they are confirmed by the Senate.

Possibly that’s just one more thing that happened in the black box that is Iraqi governance. I’ve been meaning to ask for some time, who is on the Iraqi Governing Council right now? One was killed, several are supposed to have resigned, but if they were replaced, I’ve never heard about it. And how many haven’t set foot in Iraq in, say, the last 3 months? And where are they?