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When Iraq's provincial elections in January ran smoothly, observers touted the outcome as a positive step toward a freer society. But elections alone don't make a democracy. A draft law to regulate nongovernmental organizations was approved this week by the Cabinet, unsettling elements of the nascent local NGO community, who say that parts of the law raise concerns about how free and fair the new Iraq will...
...government directorate. Registration in and of itself is not a problem, activists say, but the proposed legislation - which will now go before the Parliament and must be signed into law by the President - is vague about the conditions under which the government can refuse to register NGOs. The draft also envisions a government that can pry more directly into the internal management of NGOs. Baghdad will also have discretionary power to either grant additional privileges or remove an organization's benefits and rights, a provision that NGOs fear could handicap critics and enshrine preferential treatment for those toeing a certain...
More worrisome for some groups, the current draft law imposes provisions legalizing monitoring of the finances and accounts of NGOs, as well as their activities. The government must be notified of, and approve donations to civic organizations, giving it leverage over groups that often depend on contributions to survive. Hussain al-Safi, director general of the NGO Directorate, sidestepped a question about why the government should have its fingers on an NGO's purse strings, saying he hadn't read the 12-page draft law in detail. "I've been waiting for the opportunity to have a spare minute...
...jobs, the size of your state and eight other factors. Obviously, Robert Byrd has the best office, since he's served the longest. Still, when it's time to move, Byrd gets a day to check out any new office he might want. Then, over the next three months, draft rights trickle down to the 99 other Senators. "I don't think it's like high school," says Tester. "I think it's more like elementary school." (Cast your votes for the TIME...
...seniority, so he and his staff spent two months following hallway gossip about which offices would be getting scooped up. Back in January, the dream was that they'd get Joe Biden's office, but Judd Gregg took that, and Bob Casey took Gregg's. When Tester's draft day finally came, he looked at the dozen or so offices remaining, eventually deciding, after three trips, on Mary Landrieu...