Though subject to the authority of the CPA administrator
Paul Bremer, the council had several key powers of its own. Their duties included appointing representatives to the
United Nations, appointing interim
ministers to Iraq's vacant cabinet positions, and drafting a temporary
constitution, the
Transitional Administrative Law (TAL). The TAL spelled out the provisions which were to govern the
Iraqi Interim Government, and the timeline for holding elections to a National Assembly, drafting of a permanent constitution to be voted on by the Iraqi people, and elections to a permanent government. Despite having to answer to the CPA, different factions took on controversial stands. Religious hardliners won a solid victory when Directive 137 was passed on 29 December 2003. Passed by the council in less than 15 minutes, it replaced Iraq's former secular family law code with
Shari'a family law. This move met with wide protest among many Iraqi women fearful of how it will affect their freedom to make their own decisions about marriage, alimony, and many other issues where Iraq used to be a leader in the Arab world for
women's rights. Other legislation passed by the council included declaring the day that
Baghdad fell to be a national holiday, voting to establish a tribunal to try former government leaders, and banning television stations which are deemed to be supportive of the resistance.
A new flag chosen by the council for post-Saddam Iraq created much controversy, in part because of the similarity of color and design with the
flag of Israel, and the flag was not adopted. According to the
Law of Administration for the State of Iraq for the Transitional Period, the interim
constitution that the Council approved, the council would cease to function after 30 June 2004, at which point full sovereignty would return to Iraq, and the government will be handed over to a new, sovereign interim government. Instead, the council chose to dissolve itself prematurely. ==Presidents of the Iraqi Governing Council==