Iraqi archbishop says national government needed for security

Published: 2004-04-01

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Iraq needs a national government to establish authority and improve security in the country, said an Iraqi archbishop. Archbishop Djibrail Kassab of Basra expressed hope that rule will be turned over to an Iraqi national government June 30, the date established by the United States for such a transition. "We are Iraqis," he told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview. "It's very hard to have security without a national government," he said. The archbishop made his remarks March 31, a day in which five U.S. soldiers died in a bomb explosion and four U.S. civilian experts were killed in a separate ambush; the civilians' bodies were burned and mutilated by a mob in Fallujah. The overall situation in Basra is better than in other parts of the country, Archbishop Kassab said, but lack of security is still a key issue. "We do not have enough security," causing a situation of near anarchy, he said. "Everybody does what they wish."

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