Mechanism to convene constitutional conference in 45 days; al-Jaafari: the coming government is without defense, information

The current chairman of the Iraqi transitional governing council, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, said yesterday that the new Iraqi government will not include ministers of defense and information, while the chairman of the preparatory committee of the constitutional conference in Iraq, Fouad Masoum, said that the committee in charge of defining the mechanism for convening the constitutional conference will complete its work in 45 days.

Al-Jaafari told the Egyptian al-Joumhoreyah daily that "within days the new Iraqi government which will not include ministers of information and defense will be formed."

He added the name of the foreign minister has not been decided yet. He stressed that the "selection of ministers will be subject to criterion of efficiency and having had no involvement in the actions of the former Baathist regime."

Al-Jaafari also underlined "the importance of assigning the task of security to the Iraqi police as a main starting point because intiating all departments is linked to it." He added that efforts continue to build the security system and the number of policemen to reach 65,000."

About the recent attacks which took place in Iraq, al-Jaafari said these are "actions of destruction carried out by certain members of the former Iraqi intelligence."