One hopeful development that should not be underestimated - the establishment of that advisory Council made up of actual Iraqis, fairly representative of the population, with a slight tilt toward exiles, and a rightful majority of Shia. It would be a mistake to view it as a puppet interim institution. Bremer had to engage in a tough negotiation process to get the Council; the Iraqis weren't pushovers, and I suspect they won't be, because they understand that their occupiers need the Council.
A key figure here is the UN Special Envoy, Sergio Vieira de Mello, who is on leave from his regular gig as UN commissioner for human rights. You can get some sense of who he is from this early June USA story:
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The new U.N. representative to Iraq arrived for work Monday, saying his main priority is to ensure the quick establishment of an interim authority and pave the way for a democratic government.
In case you're tempted to view that statement as boilerplate international civil servant, Vieira de Mello has already been highly effective in helping Bremer see the wisdom of listening to Iraqis, because Viera de Mello understands the US needs the UN. Note the mention of a meeting of 300 Iraqi's scheduled for July; that's the one that got cancelled in favor of the current arrangements. Talk about needing a roadmap.
Here's an AP account of the Council's first day at work, punctuated as it broke up, by a non-accidental explosion in a parking lot frequented by foreign journalists.
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Mouwafak al-Rabii, a Shiite member of the governing council and a human rights activist, condemned the explosion.
"These are being carried out by the Taliban of Iraq," he said at the bomb site. It is "a backward ideology. A very regressive ideology, it depicts Islam in a very unacceptable way."
Speaking about the American-British occupation, al-Rabii said "nobody wants the Americans to stay one day longer than what they have to stay." He added that when Iraq has a government, an elected parliament and the security is under control, then "the American and British troops should leave immediately."
I call that a hopeful response, and one that expresses precisely where most Iraqis are on this occupation issue. And in the same vein, here's Jonathan Steele in the Guardian telling us about the"the vibrant debate among Iraqis after 30 years of repression."
And more than mere debate is going on:
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The new council in Iraq is already divided over its attitude to America. A proposal for it to express thanks to President Bush for the invasion and to declare April 9 "Liberation Day" was rejected by most members at their first informal meeting on Saturday. Instead, they made April 9 a holiday to celebrate "the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime".
A majority also decided to invite the chief UN representative rather than Mr Bremer to make the only speech by a foreigner at the council's launch on Sunday.
That latter is especially significant.
It's just possible that the Iraqi people may save the Bush administration from the worst consequences of its own arrogance and incompetence.
UPDATE: Here's a BBC article that describes who exactly each of the twenty-five members of the Council is.