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msnbc.com
U.S. rethinking timetable for Iraq sovereignty
Iraq administrator Bremer called to Washington for talks
NBC, MSNBC AND NEWS SERVICES
WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 — The U.S. administrator in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, was recalled to Washington on Tuesday for talks with Bush administration officials that could shorten the timetable for transferring power to an Iraqi government, according to media reports and sources familiar with the talks.
ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS, who spoke with NBC News on condition of anonymity, said that one issue under discussion is whether Iraq’s 25-member Governing Council should be disbanded and replaced with a real provisional government with more sovereign powers.
One official said the goal of such a change would be to accelerate self-government, something long urged by European and U.N. officials and resisted by the Bush administration.
The officials said the administration is particularly concerned that the Governing Council will not meet a Dec. 15 deadline for setting a timetable for drafting a constitution and holding elections.
Bremer has said he wants elections to be held by the end of 2004.
‘SERIOUS CONSULTATIONS ONGOING’
One senior official declined to predict whether the U.S. would order the Governing Council disbanded, but said, “There are serious consultations ongoing.”
Bremer spent part of the day at the White House, where he apparently met with senior foreign policy officials that included Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and CIA chief George Tenet. He did not meet with President Bush, though officials said he may do so before he returns to Baghdad.
The Pentagon denied that Bremer’s return was for anything other than normal consultations, even though word of the trip came on short notice and forced the administrator to cancel a meeting Tuesday with Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller, who was visiting Iraq.
The administration officials stressed that there was no expectation Bremer would be leaving his post.
GROWING FRICTION
But one U.S. official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, told NBC News that administration officials are concerned that political infighting — particularly difficult relations between Bremer and Gen. John Abazaid, the commander of U.S. military forces in the region — also is contributing to the apparent lack of progress toward an orderly transfer of power.
Heightening the tension is increasing violence by insurgents against U.S. forces.
Another official recently told Reuters there also is growing friction between Bremer and Washington over Bremer’s resistance to accelerating the transfer of control from Americans to Iraqis. The trip comes as Iraqi insurgents are stepping up attacks against U.S. soldiers.
Another administration official told the Washington Post that while Bremer outlined a plan for Iraqi sovereignty in September, “it’s beginning to be realized that it’s not going to follow that path. And we need some kind of provisional government that we can give some kind of authority to. The whole political piece is a work in progress. He’s got a lot of work to do.”
The Post reported on Sunday that U.S. officials are growing increasingly frustrated with the Iraq Governing Council, which has done “nothing of substance” since it was appointed in late August, according to one U.S. official in Baghdad quoted by the newspaper.
Iraqi leadership is a prerequisite for legitimate Iraqi government, administration officials have said. Members of the council have countered that real leadership and legitimacy are impossible as long as the United States occupies Iraq, the Post reported. |
