Bush, Bremer weigh options for U.N. in Iraq

WASHINGTON -- The United States plans to ask the United Nations on Monday to play an active role in virtually every aspect of the political transition in Iraq, from overseeing the selection of an Iraqi government and writing new laws to the transfer of power when the U.S. occupation ends on June 30, senior U.S. officials said Friday.

The Bush administration and the Iraqi Governing Council will appeal to the United Nations Monday in New York to dispatch a team of envoys to meet with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani to convince him that holding fair elections is impossible in the limited time left, the officials said.

"We'd like to see the U.N. involved in everything -- the whole political process. The issue now is, will they do this, and then how do they do this," said a senior State Department official.

The U.S. governor of Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, held a series of meetings in Washington Friday with President Bush and the senior foreign policy team to work on the proposals. Afterwards, Bremer told reporters that the United Nations knows how to organize elections and has "a great deal of expertise it can bring to bear on the process of writing a constitution. All of these things I'm sure are going to be discussed during the course of the day Monday."

Although the Bush administration says it has long sought greater U.N. involvement, the decision to rely so heavily on the world body is a notable turnaround after a year of rocky relations when the United Nations was relegated to the margins of Iraq policy. The current transition plan, signed on Nov. 15 between the United States and the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, mentions no role for the U.N.

The United States is now particularly eager for new U.N. envoy to Iraq Lakhdar Brahimi to go to Baghdad, where U.S. officials hope he would become the chief broker to end the current political impasse with Sistani and other Iraqi leaders. "Brahimi speaks Arabic. He's Muslim. He could be a persuasive interlocutor," said a senior U.S. official.

Added the senior State Department official, "Brahimi is very important. Brahimi in New York is good but Brahimi in Iraq is even better. There's certainly no doubt that the Iraqi Governing Council wants the United Nations and Brahimi out there as soon as possible."

Washington faces an uphill battle in persuading the United Nations, U.S. officials concede, even though Secretary General Kofi Annan has essentially backed the American plan for choosing an interim Iraqi government through a system of caucuses instead of elections. Annan has agreed there isn't enough time for elections to be held before the U.S. occupation ends June 30.

The most divisive issue with the U.N. is likely to be U.S. insistence on controlling major decisions, even if the United Nations becomes a partner in the transition, U.S. and U.N. officials say.

"Our natural inclination will be to put parameters on how much the U.N. can or can't do. But to get the U.N. to buy into the process, we'll have to cede some level of control," said a well-placed U.S. official. "So this could be a problem."

A senior U.N. official said the world body remains "fairly reticent," particularly about a role in the controversial caucuses because the process provides little "scope" for a meaningful U.N. role. The Nov. 15 agreement outlines a complex plan for 18 regional caucuses to select a new national assembly by the end of May. The legislature would then elect a president or prime minister and Cabinet in June before the U.S.-led occupation ends.

Yet U.N. officials did not rule out the possibility of acceding to the U.S. request to send a political team to Iraq to help break the current impasse over the political transition.

Despite the growing momentum inside Iraq behind Sistani's call for elections, the Bush administration insisted Friday that it can find common ground with the popular cleric, the most prominent leader of Shi'ite Muslims, the largest sector of Iraqi society.

"I have the greatest respect for Ayatollah Sistani. There is a great deal that we agree about with him: First of all, that Iraq should move now to a democratic form of government. Secondly, that the process by which that happens should be transparent and representative, involving all Iraqis," Bremer said Friday.

Bremer noted that the United States is prepared to adjust the current transition plan through "refinements" and "clarifications." "There are, if you talk to experts in these matters, all kinds of ways to organize partial elections and caucuses," Bremer told reporters. "We're willing to consider refinements and that's something that we will be willing to discuss at the appropriate time."

But Washington is unwilling to change the date for ending the occupation. "The Iraqi people are anxious to get sovereignty back and we are not anxious to extend our period of occupation," Bremer told reporters.

Contributing: Colum Lynch.

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