http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/05/international/middleeast/05POLI.html
WASHINGTON, April 4 ? L. Paul Bremer III, the civilian administrator in Iraq, is scheduled to hold a closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill early this week, two senior senators said Sunday. They warned that the June 30 date for transferring sovereignty to the Iraqis might be premature.
Asked on the ABC News program "This Week" if that date was unrealistic, Richard G. Lugar, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, said, "It may be, and I think it's probably time to have that debate."
Mr. Lugar, a Republican from Indiana, and the committee's ranking Democrat, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, both said they had been advised that Mr. Bremer would brief them and other legislators this week. Mr. Lugar also said he had scheduled three days of hearings, from April 20 to April 22, to explore the details of the transfer.
The two senators' concerns about the transition date were expressed in telephone interviews and television appearances, Mr. Lugar on "This Week" and Mr. Biden on "Fox News Sunday," that focused on the political and security issues that have bedeviled Mr. Bremer and the Coalition Provisional Authority, which he directs.
The issues include the roles of the United States and the ambassador it will send to Iraq, the expected size of the American troop contingent, the role the United Nations may play, the possible introduction of NATO troops and the overriding questions of security in a society studded with armed militias and a relentless anti-American insurgency.
A White House statement on Sunday afternoon reiterating the June 30 deadline said in part: "The United States and our coalition partners are continuing to work closely with Iraqi leaders and the Iraqi people on our plan to meet the June 30 deadline. The United States will stay in Iraq until the job is done and there is a free, peaceful and democratic Iraq for the Iraqi people."
In a telephone interview, Mr. Lugar said, "I would just say that we want to get someone in the administration who has responsibility for this to address the security issues" of a transfer in a country racked by an anti-American insurgency.
"Specifically," he said, "to whom will sovereignty be given? And how secure are these people?" ? a reference to the 3,000 people who will serve in a new American Embassy in Baghdad. Neither he nor Mr. Biden knew the exact timing of the briefing by Mr. Bremer.
In a telephone interview, Mr. Biden said: "We're about to give over authority to an entity that we haven't identified yet, knowing that whatever that entity is, there's going to be overwhelming turmoil between June 30 and January, when there is supposed to be an election. Who is the referee? Who is the graybeard?"
He added: "I predict to you ? I hope I'm wrong ? that your colleagues writing about this 10 years from now are going to look at 9/11 and they're going to look at 6/30. This administration, as far as I can tell, is at odds with itself, being pulled apart ? one portion saying we're going to keep it under our tent and the other half saying, `Let's give it to the U.N.' "
Mr. Biden also reiterated his view that NATO troops should be brought in to supplement the dwindling American forces and give a more international face to the military presence in Iraq ? which already includes troops from several NATO members, including Britain, Spain and Italy.
WASHINGTON, April 4 ? L. Paul Bremer III, the civilian administrator in Iraq, is scheduled to hold a closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill early this week, two senior senators said Sunday. They warned that the June 30 date for transferring sovereignty to the Iraqis might be premature.
Asked on the ABC News program "This Week" if that date was unrealistic, Richard G. Lugar, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, said, "It may be, and I think it's probably time to have that debate."
Mr. Lugar, a Republican from Indiana, and the committee's ranking Democrat, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, both said they had been advised that Mr. Bremer would brief them and other legislators this week. Mr. Lugar also said he had scheduled three days of hearings, from April 20 to April 22, to explore the details of the transfer.
The two senators' concerns about the transition date were expressed in telephone interviews and television appearances, Mr. Lugar on "This Week" and Mr. Biden on "Fox News Sunday," that focused on the political and security issues that have bedeviled Mr. Bremer and the Coalition Provisional Authority, which he directs.
The issues include the roles of the United States and the ambassador it will send to Iraq, the expected size of the American troop contingent, the role the United Nations may play, the possible introduction of NATO troops and the overriding questions of security in a society studded with armed militias and a relentless anti-American insurgency.
A White House statement on Sunday afternoon reiterating the June 30 deadline said in part: "The United States and our coalition partners are continuing to work closely with Iraqi leaders and the Iraqi people on our plan to meet the June 30 deadline. The United States will stay in Iraq until the job is done and there is a free, peaceful and democratic Iraq for the Iraqi people."
In a telephone interview, Mr. Lugar said, "I would just say that we want to get someone in the administration who has responsibility for this to address the security issues" of a transfer in a country racked by an anti-American insurgency.
"Specifically," he said, "to whom will sovereignty be given? And how secure are these people?" ? a reference to the 3,000 people who will serve in a new American Embassy in Baghdad. Neither he nor Mr. Biden knew the exact timing of the briefing by Mr. Bremer.
In a telephone interview, Mr. Biden said: "We're about to give over authority to an entity that we haven't identified yet, knowing that whatever that entity is, there's going to be overwhelming turmoil between June 30 and January, when there is supposed to be an election. Who is the referee? Who is the graybeard?"
He added: "I predict to you ? I hope I'm wrong ? that your colleagues writing about this 10 years from now are going to look at 9/11 and they're going to look at 6/30. This administration, as far as I can tell, is at odds with itself, being pulled apart ? one portion saying we're going to keep it under our tent and the other half saying, `Let's give it to the U.N.' "
Mr. Biden also reiterated his view that NATO troops should be brought in to supplement the dwindling American forces and give a more international face to the military presence in Iraq ? which already includes troops from several NATO members, including Britain, Spain and Italy.
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