It’s been more than a month since the fall of Saddam’s regime in Baghdad, and it’s still not clear who is in charge of Iraq. As our correspondent there, Adam Daifallah, has been reporting, there’s no reliable electricity in the city. Crime is rampant. There’s no functioning police force. The American appointed by President Bush to govern the country, L. Paul Bremer, can try to fix these problems himself with the assistance of the American military. If he does succeed, he won’t have brought Iraq any farther on the road to self-government. And if, as is more likely, he fails, the frustrations will only breed anti-Americanism among Iraqis. Symptomatic of the problem is the draft resolution that has been introduced by America at the United Nations Security Council, which makes no direct mention of the word “democracy” and includes no timeline for turning Iraq over to Iraqi leadership. There are a whole host of tasks ahead in reconstructing Iraq — from freezing and seizing Saddam’s bank accounts abroad to policing the streets and drafting a constitution for the new nation. The more that Iraqis are given responsibility for such tasks, the greater the likelihood that they will succeed, and that America the liberator will not come to be resented as America the occupier. In Afghanistan, America moved much more quickly — the last major Taliban stronghold, Kandahar, fell on December 6, 2001, and an interim government headed by Hamid Karzai was sworn in on December 21, 2001. In Iraq, Baghdad fell on April 9 — and today there not only is no interim government in Baghdad, there is no clear path to one. There are only vague American promises of meetings to discuss such a government, meetings which tend to either be postponed indefinitely or end inconclusively. The person with by far the best track record on Iraq is the leader of the Iraqi National Congress, Ahmad Chalabi. In an interview with The New York Sun that we published on April 16, 2002, Mr. Chalabi called for, as we paraphrased it at the time, “the training of military policemen to take control of the liberated areas and to prevent acts of revenge and property damage.” He also called for “the training of prosecutors, judges, and law enforcement officials.” Had America taken his advice then, Baghdad today would be less of a mess.” We will remain in Iraq as long as necessary, and not a day more,” Mr. Bush said on February 26. Every day that America delays in yielding authority to an Iraqi interim government adds another unnecessary day to America’s stay in Iraq — directly contradicting Mr. Bush’s promise.