Excerpts from previous political updates, by subject

May 23, 2003

General Jay Garner in Iraq

As Director of the Pentagon's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, retired General Jay Garner served as chief civilian administrator in Iraq until the arrival of L. Paul Bremer III on May 12. After moving to Baghdad on April 21, General Garner's immediate priority was to restore basic services like water and electricity and to kick-start the political transition process. He led a first set of talks with Iraq's disparate and feuding factions on April 15. They met at the Tallil air base in Ur, while in nearby Nasiriya, thousands of Shiite Muslims demonstrated against U.S. control in shaping Iraq's government. Garner led a second meeting with Iraq's religious and ethnic groups on April 28. The meeting assembled about 300 Iraqis, including representatives from the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, which had boycotted an earlier U.S.-led meeting held in Ur. A larger meeting was scheduled to be held in northern Iraq within the following month in order to select an interim administration able to assume responsibility over daily government functions.