Baghdad `mayor' arrested by U.S.
An Iraqi graduate of the Alexander Haig School of Political Leadership, Mohammed Mohsen al-Zubaidi, has declared himself Mayor of Baghdad. This was, of course, news to US troops, who had no idea who al-Zubaidi is.
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- An Iraqi exile who had proclaimed himself the mayor of Baghdad and had been issuing orders to municipal employees in defiance of the U.S. military commander here was arrested Sunday by U.S. forces, ending a brazen challenge to American authority in the postwar administration of Iraq.
The U.S. Central Command accused Mohammed Mohsen al-Zubaidi, a previously unknown member of the country's exiled political opposition who has spent the past 10 days holding forth as Baghdad's leader, of interfering with U.S. efforts to resuscitate Iraq's government and exercising authority he did not have....
In the al-Zubaidi case, the Central Command said in a statement that the self-proclaimed mayor had been trying "to take political and personal advantage" by attempting to wield power "not representative of the interests of the people."
Al-Zubaidi's aides said he and his principal deputy, Jawdat Obeidi, were arrested after being lured to the sprawling Republican Palace grounds, now home to the U.S. civil-military coordination center, with the pretense that they were being granted a meeting with Jay Garner, the retired lieutenant general who serves as Iraq's day-to-day administrator.
The Central Command said al-Zubaidi and seven people accompanying him were detained near the coordination center, although five were released.
Al-Zubaidi and another man -- believed by his aides to be Obeidi -- were removed from Baghdad and placed in an internment facility elsewhere in Iraq "to prevent his continued misrepresentation of his authority as the mayor of Baghdad," the command said....
Although the U.S. ground commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. David McKiernan, had warned al-Zubaidi on Wednesday to move out of the Palestine Hotel and cease his activities, al-Zubaidi responded with indifference, simply relocating to the Sheraton Hotel across the street and a neighboring social club.
Instead of shutting down, his supporters began circulating a petition calling on Garner to recognize al-Zubaidi as one of the city's leaders.
I suppose you should give al-Zubaidi credit for trying, but given that Iraq is a country with absolutely zero democratic tradition, there will be many more like him looking to see what he can get out of the situation.
The war may be over, but the work is just beginning, and it is not going to be nearly as fast, ruthless, and efficient as the war was. The wierdness has just begun.
