And installing exile leaders by American armed might doesn't seem a promising path to democratic stability.
The council members were put in place by the American-led occupation administration, chosen mainly from among exile leaders.
The exile leaders, he added, "have been tested over the last months on the Governing Council and failed to achieve the things they talked about."
Without expressing immediate interest in any of that, many of the former exile leaders promote the things they have learned abroad.
Cuban exile leaders, many of whom counted him as a friend, were stunned.
Kurdish exile leaders blamed the Iranian secret service for the attack.
The exile groups have been told that there could be a change in Iraq in a month or two, an exile leader said.
The shortcomings in the planning became immediately apparent to some exile leaders after Baghdad fell.
The common warnings of unrest from the exile leaders were partly drawn from Iraq's history.
The exile leaders were hardly a lone voice.