WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An interim Iraqi president, prime minister and other top ministers should be selected in the next two weeks, President Bush said on Wednesday as he prepared to lay out for the American public his strategy for handing sovereignty to Iraqis.
Rushing to stem eroding support at home and abroad for his Iraq policies, Bush discussed with his Cabinet and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi plans for what he called a "full transfer of sovereignty" to an Iraqi interim government on June 30 backed by a new U.N. Security Council resolution.
Berlusconi came to Washington to press Bush to give Iraqis more say over their security forces and military facilities after the handover. While Berlusconi suggested there was a broad consensus, senior Bush administration officials said the interim government would have limited authority in some areas and Iraqi forces, while overseen by fellow Iraqis, would still fall under a U.S.-led command.
In a public address next week, Bush plans to lay out in more detail the course for the remaining month and a half before the scheduled transfer, administration officials said.
Spreading violence and a prison abuse scandal have pushed the president's approval ratings to new lows and he is eager to show Americans he is on top of the situation with time running out before the handover deadline.
Officials said Bush would discuss his Iraq plans when he meets privately with fellow Republicans on Capitol Hill on Thursday.
Bush said he expected decisions to be made in the next two weeks on who will become the new Iraqi prime minister and president, and assume the two positions of deputy president.
Berlusconi proposed an international conference on Iraq be held before elections in January.
He also suggested the president of the interim Iraqi government visit New York in July to meet members of the U.N. Security Council and representatives from coalition member countries.
"It's a very convincing plan," said the Italian leader, a leading ally in the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq. "We agreed on all of these future possibilities."
U.N. RESOLUTION
Bush is increasingly confident of winning support for a new U.N. resolution that would recognize the interim government, even though details about its makeup and authority have yet to be settled.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said he expected action "soon" on the resolution. Washington wants it passed before June 30. McClellan said U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi will also "come back with some names for that interim government soon."
Bush is trying to counter growing concerns inside and outside his administration that the occupation is failing and that he has no strategy to improve the situation.
At G8 talks last week, the foreign ministers of major industrialized countries challenged the United States to transfer real power to Baghdad in the handover.
France, which last year blocked U.N. approval of the U.S. invasion, said Washington must give up control over local forces, while Italy said a new government must have a say over American troop tactics.
Bush administration officials have said the Iraqis would have responsibility for administering the country on June 30, the official end of the occupation.
But they want security to stay under the leadership of the United States, and regulations promulgated by the Coalition Provisional Authority may stay in place until elections in January 2005.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told Congress earlier this week that Iraqi troops, although under U.S. command, would be permitted to opt out of any operation.
Bush plans to shift control of oil revenues and the Iraq Development Fund to the new Iraqi leadership, officials said.
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)
