sisyphusshrugged | bangs. head.

Things really could be going more smoothly over there.

The head of Iraq's U.S.-appointed Governing Council was killed on Monday by a car bomb at a checkpoint in Baghdad, Deputy Foreign Minister Hamed al-Bayati told Reuters.

He said Abdul Zahra Othman Mohammad, also known as Izzedin Salim, had been waiting to enter the main U.S.-led coalition compound in Baghdad when the car bomb exploded.

U.S. troops at the scene said at least eight people were killed in the blast.

Now, why would they want to do a mean thing like that?

Increasing violence in Iraq has led some to question the wisdom of the scheduled June 30 handover of sovereignty from the Coalition Provision Authority to an interim Iraqi government.

Kimmitt said the transfer of power must stay on track.

"Days like today convinced us even more so that this must stay on track -- absolutely affirms that the process of handing over sovereignty to the people of Iraqi must happen," he said. "Days like today, rather than derailing us from that process, actually affirm the wisdom and prudence of that transfer of authority."

South of Baghdad, a U.S. soldier was killed Sunday and two others wounded in a firefight, the Coalition Public Information Center said.

All three soldiers were members of Task Force 1st Armored Division.

Coalition forces, including the 1st Armored Division, have been battling radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's militia in Karbala, Najaf and in the southern city of Nasiriya.

Since the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, 784 U.S. troops have died, 571 under hostile circumstances.

In South Korea, meanwhile, a foreign ministry official said Monday the United States is planning to shift some of its troops from South Korea to Iraq.

"The United States has informed us that it needs to take some of the U.S. troops in South Korea and send them to Iraq because of the worsening situation there," said Kim Sook. (Full story)
Interim government likely won't oust troops

Iraq's interim government, slated to take charge in 45 says, will have the authority to order coalition troops to leave, but a member of the Iraqi Governing Council said Sunday it is unlikely to do so.

"Until we have the means and we have enough Iraqi forces to confront the danger of the al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, I think we'll probably be needing external help," Adnan Pachachi said.

After the handover of sovereignty, the multinational force will be in the country "with the approval of the Iraqi government, and anything it does has to be done in consultation with the Iraqi government and with its approval," Pachachi told CNN's "Late Edition."

Secretary of State Colin Powell raised eyebrows last week when when he said troops from the U.S.-led coalition would leave Iraq after the handover if the new interim government made that request. But he also said he believed such an order was unlikely.

Pachachi said murder charges against al-Sadr may be "postponed" as part of a deal to defuse a standoff between coalition forces and al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia.

"My understanding is there are some efforts being made still to defuse the crisis and try to let Muqtada al-Sadr dismantle his Mehdi Army and perhaps also surrender its weapons," Pachachi said.

"It's quite possible, also, that the legal proceedings against him may be postponed for a while if he complies with the other conditions. This is what I heard."

Not a lot of downside for killing people in Iraq these days, is there.

As a matter of fact, it seems to have some solid benefits.

The U.S. overseer for Iraq, Paul Bremer, has aired the possibility of an American pullout from the country, saying the United States did not stay where it was "not welcome".

"If the provisional government asks us to leave we will leave," he said, referring to a post 30 June administration after the handover of sovereignty.

"I don't think that will happen but obviously we don't stay in countries where we're not welcome," he said at a working lunch in Baghdad with Iraqi officials from Diyala province.

"The CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority) dissolves on 30 June. Does that mean that the United States is going away? Absolutely not," he said.

The make-up of the provisional government is still under discussion that will take Iraq from the handover of sovereignty by the U.S.-led occupation to national elections scheduled to take place in January 2005.

The three main tasks of the 30-strong transitional government over its seven-month lifespan are running the country, preparing for elections and dealing with the security issue.

But critics have questioned how much sovereignty the new Iraq will have, noting that the United States will still maintain an autonomous military presence in the country.

UN special envoy al- Akhdar al-Brahimi is currently in Iraq consulting on the make-up of a post-June 30 administration.

Bremer told the officials, including the governor of Diyala, Abd Allah Hassan Rashid, that he was working with the United Nations but it was too early to say who would be on the provisional government.

He said he believed it would be a combination of "people chosen for their technical capabilities... (and) people who are technically capable".

but wait... it gets even better...

The United States signalled on Sunday its readiness to put up with an Islamic theocracy in future sovereign Iraq, with Secretary of State Colin Powell saying the US administration "will have to accept" any government created as a result of free and fair elections there.

The remark, made in an interview with NBC television, marked a policy reversal for the administration of President George W Bush, which up to now had vowed to fight tooth and nail any attempt by Iraqi Shia leaders to follow in the footsteps of their brethren in Iran.

Asked if a theocratic government fashioned after the regime in Tehran would be acceptable to Washington now, Powell indicated it was ready to entertain this possibility. "We will have to accept what the Iraqi people decide upon," he said in comments during "Meet the Press" programme.

The secretary of state cautioned, however, that to gain acceptance around the world, any future Iraqi government would have to respect basic human rights. He also expressed confidence that after decades of totalitarian rule, the Iraqi people would opt for a true democracy after their sovereignty would be restored on June 30. "Surely, everybody understands it is a nation that rests on the faith of Islam," Powell said. "But they also know that in order to be successful as a 21st-century country, they have to respect the rights of all individuals and not allow a purely fundamentalist regime. And my sensing of what the Iraqi people want is a democracy," he added.

Congratulations. We have just won a new fundamentalist theocracy in one of the most dangerous places in the world.

Leadership apparently to be determined by elimination.

Disney World, anyone?