Mosul Takes Step Toward Democracy
MOSUL, Iraq — A convention of religious, ethnic and tribal leaders chose a former Iraqi army general as Mosul's mayor Monday, making it the country's first major city with an elected government.
About 150 delegates cast ballots to select an interim city council of 24 men, who then went behind closed doors and picked Ghanim Basso, 58, a former Iraqi army major general and longtime member of the now-deposed Baath Party, as interim mayor. Opposition leaders, who boycotted the vote, called it undemocratic and said it gave power to several supporters of Saddam Hussein's ousted regime. But the U.S. military official who oversaw the election process said he was satisfied that Basso, whose brother was executed by the Hussein regime a decade ago, was sufficiently independent to serve as mayor.
Maj. Gen. David Petraeus, who is in charge of northwestern Iraq as commander of the 101st Airborne Division, said the indirect election was a successful first step in building democracy. "By being here today, you are participating in the birth of the democratic process in Iraq," Petraeus told convention delegates before Monday's vote, calling it a "historic day."
To maintain ethnic balance, a Kurd was selected to the deputy mayor's post and the two men chosen as assistant mayors are a Christian Assyrian and a Turkmen, or ethnic Turk.
The new government faces several serious problems, including demands for better security, jobs and fuel for vehicles and gas stoves.
The gasoline shortage is so severe in Mosul that drivers wait in line for two days just to fill their tanks. "There are about four or five days left of fuel at the current rationed amount being distributed in the city," Petraeus told reporters. "It's a tragedy that a country with the second-largest oil reserves in the world should have to bring in fuel for its own citizens.
"And it's something we believe is a short-term measure until the [refinery] plants at Baiji and Basra can be brought back to full capacity."
The new mayor and council will have full power to govern Mosul -- which is officially Iraq's third-largest city but claims to be the second-largest -- and surrounding Nineveh province, Petraeus said.
"We want the mayor, the city council and government to succeed," Petraeus said. "The initial process will be to enforce the laws that exist. The legal code for Iraq is actually a fairly sound legal code, except that it was perverted by the Baath regime to serve its ends."
