Trolling our Iraq blogs and other sources today I'm struck by how diverse opinion is among Iraqis themselves:

Regarding the Governing Council, it is wrong to upset the arrangement too drastically now. No matter what misgivings you may have about their performance, they still represent quite a wide spectrum of the Iraqi political scene, and what is more important, they are all for the new Iraq, that we all pray for. However fundamental changes are required, and I think now at last serious steps are underway.
 --The Mesopotamian

There's a complete and total lack of communication between the Council members and the people- they are as inaccessible as Bremer or Bush. Their speeches are often in English and hardly ever to the Iraqi public. We hear about new decisions and political and economical maneuverings through the voice-overs of translators while the Council members are simpering at some meeting thousands of miles away.
 --Baghdad Burning

I think that dissolving the whole council would be another huge mistake. Expanding it into a national conference with greater powers and authorities would be more realistic. We can add professional technocrats and non-partisans from different Iraqi provinces who would be more of service to us than party leaders and tribal sheikhs.
 --Healing Iraq

A national conference is a good idea, but it will fail as miserably as the Puppet Council, unless… there's a timetable. The occupation forces need to set a definite date saying, "We're going to begin pulling out on *this* month, next year- let's get organized before that." A timetable is vital to any progress, if any is going to be made. Only then, will things begin to move forward.
 --Baghdad Burning

The Gallup poll [of Baghdad residents completed in October] found that 71% of the capital city's residents felt U.S. troops should not leave in the next few months. Just 26% felt the troops should leave that soon.
 --USA Today, 10-14-2003

Part of me wants to throw up my hands and say, "how do you expect us to help when none of you can even agree on what help is?"

But another part smiles, looks at our own newspapers filled with people passionately advocating diametrically opposed views, and thinks they're halfway to where they need to be already.