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05/28/2004:

"Governing Body, U.S. Pick CIA Link Allawi as Iraqi Prime Minister"

By Tom Perry

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iyad Allawi, a former member of Saddam Hussein's Baath party who then worked with the CIA to topple him, was chosen as prime minister of Iraq Friday.

Charged with taking over from the U.S. occupation authority on June 30 and leading his country to its first free elections next year, his nomination emerged from a unanimous consensus at a meeting of the 25 U.S. appointees on Iraq's Governing Council.

United Nations envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, whom Washington asked to help shape a new Iraqi government, welcomed the choice of the British-educated, Shi'ite neurologist through a spokesman.

It was unclear how far U.S. officials or Brahimi influenced the choice of a long-time exile known to few Iraqis and whom people in Baghdad said was an outsider they could not trust.
Reuters article

UN sidelined in choice of Iraqi leader