Dr. Walid M. Sadi, former editor-in-chief of the Jordan Times, has expressed his confidence in the twenty-five member governing council of Iraq because of the inclusion of former Iraqi Foreign Minister Adnan Pachachi. Pachachi, according to Sadi, is a distinguished statesman and scholar with a near perfect record in championing rationality as a diplomat. Before the 1967 war with Israel, Pachachi was the sole voice among the Arab UN ambassadors who "counselled restraint in the Arab rhetoric and used reason to arrive at his judgements."

Dr. Sadi writes that Pachachi's one blemish followed the war of 1967, when he "became a faithful disciple of the call for continuation of the battle against Israel even after the defeat of the Arab armies" in that war.

"Those were the days when the Arab ambassadors at the UN were offered by the then US ambassador to the UN, Arthur Goldberg, a deal immediately after the declaration of a ceasefire, a deal of their lives that they would live to regret for turning down. Goldberg offered the Arab missions at the UN the return to status quo ante, conditioned on the lifting of the Egyptian blockade of the straits that lead to Eilat. Much to my consternation and amazement, Pachachi, and for the first time ever, joined the Arab chorus that rejected that offer."

In spite of that aberration from his otherwise perfect record, Sadi believes that Pachachi's role in the new Iraq is indispensable.

"As long as there are people of Pachachi's calibre on the Governing Council of Iraq, the Iraqis and the rest of the Arab world must feel at ease and confident over the future of the Iraqi people and their country. ... Pachachi is an elder statesman who has nothing to gain by stealing his people's inalienable rights and basic freedoms."

[ Dr. Sadi's column can be seen here. ]

That the Governing Council of Iraq is getting support within the Arab press, even from one of the relatively moderate papers such as the Jordan Times, is good news. This support was by no means guaranteed, and will help the Governing Council's struggle to establish its legitimacy.