Iraq's new governing council holds first meeting

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• published: 30 Jul 2015
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1. Wide shot exterior of building where meeting was held 2. Close up armed guard 3. Wide shot entrance 4. Vehicles pull up, members enter building 5. Vehicle pulls up, Ahmed Chalabi - leader of the Iraqi National Congress - gets out, and enters building 6. Various of entrance to building 7. Various of security 8. Wide interior shot council seated around table in meeting room 9. Two shot of council members, Naseer al-Chaderchi, National Democratic Party (left) 10. Mid shot council members 11. Close up former Iraqi Foreign Minister Adnan Pachachi (left) talking to Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim, a leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution 12. Mid shot Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani (left) talking to Mohammed Bahr al-Ulloum, cleric from Najaf, Shiite (bearded) 13. Two mid shots of shot council 14. Close up Ahmed Chalabi gesturing to council member 15. Wide shot council 16. Close up Adnan Pachachi, pan to Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim 17. Wide shot council 18. Close up Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani 19. Close up council member 20. Close up hands and pen 21. Two woman council members 22. Tilt up council member Ghazi Ajil Alyawar 23. Various of council 24. Media leaving room, door is closed STORYLINE: A governing council bringing together prominent Iraqis from all walks of political and religious life met on Sunday for the first time, in what US and Iraqi officials are calling a first step on the nation's path to democracy. The 25-member panel will have real political muscle, with the power to name ministers and approve the 2004 budget, but final control of Iraq still rests with US administrator L. Paul Bremer. Security was tight where the council was meeting - a building that once belonged to Iraq's powerful Military Industrialisation Authority, part of a complex where Iraq's rubber-stamp parliament used to meet under Saddam Hussein. The panel was selected after more than two months of consultations. One of its first goals will be to convince the Iraqi people that it represents them, despite the fact they never had a chance to vote on its members. US-led coalition leaders say an election in Iraq is not yet practical. An official list of council members was not immediately available, but it was believed to have 13 Shiites, five Kurds, five Sunnis, one Christian and one Turkoman, an attempt to reflect the country's diverse demographics. Shiites make up about 60 percent of Iraq's 24 (m) million people, but they have never ruled the country. Among those on the panel are Ahmed Chalabi, leader of the Iraqi National Congress, Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, a leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution, Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani, leaders of the two main Kurdish groups, and former foreign minister Adnan Pachachi. The group, however, is expected to be dominated by lesser known Iraqis who remained in their country during Saddam's 23-year dictatorship. The panel is meant to be the forerunner of a larger constitutional assembly that will have about a year to draft a new constitution. A senior Western diplomat has told The Associated Press that a preliminary constitutional committee is expected to be named within two to three weeks. By mid- to late-September, the 200-250 strong Constitutional Convention is expected to take office and begin deliberations. The convention is expected to take nine months to a year to produce a draft constitution, after which Iraqis will hold a referendum to vote on the document. Free elections to pick a government are expected to follow. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/1dc0ee19cb74b8fbe104ceba806da4d8 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork