The Bush administration defended the make-up of the newly selected Iraqi interim government even though it will be led by members of the Iraqi Governing Council which was widely seen as illegitimate by the Iraqi people. One former leading member of the Council, Mahmoud Othman protested the actions of U.S. occupation head Paul Bremer and the United Nations envoy Lakhdar Brahimi in shaping the new government. Othman told the Guardian “The behaviour of Mr. Bremer and Mr. Brahimi has been shameful. It’s like being in a dictatorship again.” National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice defended the make-up of the government saying “Look, these are not America’s puppets.” The interim prime minister, president, deputy president and one of the ministers of state were all members of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council which dissolved itself Tuesday to allow the interim government to take power. Agence France Press reported the new prime minister, Iyad Allawi, a former Baathist with ties to the CIA and Saudi intelligence, went out of his way to call for US forces to stay in Iraq. He said “I call on the United States and Europe to protect Iraq.” A New York Times editorial today reads “The end of the Governing Council concludes a chapter of unpopular, ineffectual governance that failed to stem a growing insurgency and did little to lay the groundwork for a workable democracy. .. the new governing body looks uncomfortably like the old one with a new name and a few added powers.”