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Article: U.S. recalls Bremer over Iraq crisis White House struggles to respond to Muslim cleric's election demand
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- January 16, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2004 Chicago Sun-Times. (Hide copyright information)
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WASHINGTON -- Trying to salvage a timetable for Iraqi self-rule,
U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer was recalled from Baghdad on
Thursday for brainstorming at the White House and the United Nations.
Bremer's visit comes amid an American scramble to overcome growing
Shiite Muslim resistance to the U.S. plan.
While the Bush administration said it intended to hold to its July
1 deadline for handing over control in Baghdad, large anti-American
protests broke out in Basra.
A leading Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-
Sistani, continued to press for direct, popular elections -- rather
than the U.S. plan -- as the way to create Iraq's new government.
Threatening the U.S. blueprint, ...