Posted on 11/12/2003 1:13:26 PM PST by yonif
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush has directed Iraq's civil administrator Paul Bremer to speed the transfer of postwar authority to the Iraqi people, drawing Washington's policy closer to that of its sceptical European allies.
At the end of two days of urgent consultations with Bush and his top national security advisers, Bremer said he would return to Baghdad for talks with members of the Iraqi Governing Council on how to best to accelerate the transfer of power.
The United States also displayed a new military approach to its troubled occupation, unleashing the firepower of the First Armored Division against what it said was a Baghdad building used by anti-American guerrillas.
Bremer will return to Iraq with a number of ideas, including one in which power would be handed over to an interim government to write a constitution and to an executive to assume sovereign power, much like was done in postwar Afghanistan.
A similar proposal earlier this fall was advocated by France and Germany but at the time rejected by the United States.
Bush had embraced a slow path to democracy in Iraq of a year or two, despite the urgings of France and Germany to move faster. Now there is talk of some sort of elections in four to six months.
"We are looking at all sorts of ideas and we do want to accelerate the pace of reform. We want to accelerate our work with respect to putting a legal basis under the new Iraqi government," Secretary of State Colin Powell told reporters.
With November shaping up to be the most violent month of a guerrilla campaign that emerged after the quick U.S. takeover, Bush wants faster action. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the United States saw the need to be flexible.
"Just like you have to adapt and adjust on the security front to meet the enemy, you need to be willing to adjust and adapt to circumstances on the ground, in terms of reconstruction and in terms of the political front," he said.
However, the White House gave no details of any new way forward in Iraq.
Bremer said he would tell the Iraqi council Bush's thoughts and ask how they wanted to proceed. A December 15 U.N. Security Council deadline is looming that requires the council to offer a plan for writing an Iraqi constitution and holding elections.
"There's a lot going on and we need to pull this all together and integrate it into a plan going forward. And that's what I'll be talking to the governing council about," Bremer told reporters after meeting Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and participating in a National Security Council meeting. He gave no details.
SPECULATION ON BREMER'S ROLE
There is growing frustration among U.S. officials with the council and what some officials say is increasing friction with Bremer himself.
Bremer's abrupt return to Washington had triggered speculation his job was on the line or the council might be disbanded, which he dashed by saying he would continue talks with the council.
With the recent surge in attacks on U.S. soldiers, local people cooperating with them and international groups, Washington is seeking ways to reduce the U.S. presence and defuse hostility by shifting control faster to Iraqis.
Bremer defended the council, which is said to be fraught with rivalries. He referred to it as the IGC and said he was confident he could work with its members.
"I don't think it's fair to say the IGC is failing. They face a very difficult situation at this time, but the Iraqis are, I think, more and more effective in their assumption of authorities," he said.
Guerrillas have killed at least 155 American troops since Bush declared major combat operations over on May 1. This month, insurgents have downed two U.S. helicopters in Iraq both with significant losses.
On Wednesday, a car bomb ripped through an Italian military police base in the town of Nassiriya, killing at least 14 Italians and eight Iraqis.
The White House also played down a CIA report that said popular support for the Iraqi insurgents was growing.
A senior official acknowledged there were strong differences within the Bush administration on how quickly sovereignty could be returned to Iraqis.
If we transfer power too quickly, this might turn into a colossal failure a decade (or less) down the road in regards to our overall security.
The present strategy inadvertently rewards terrorism. The US says unless things are peaceful there is no transfer of power. So guess what happens, terrorists attack because they don't want the Iraq gov't to have normal powers. The more quickly powers are transferred, the more terrorists lose the window of opportunity.
Reuters ecstatic to be able to print that sentence. Europeans probably right for (some of) the wrong reasons.
The insurgents' success, fed by foreign terrorists coming across porous borders, has forced the issue.
The transfer has to go more quickly than we would like, in order for Iraqi forces to have legitimacy in Iraqi governance.
Only then will the Iraqis be able to unleash a sufficiently agressive onslaught to counter the insurgents.
What, so we can create chaos in Iran and Syria too? Me thinks we've got our hands full in Iraq and we should get that sorted before we move on to other countries in the ME.
If chaos will bring down the present terror sponsoring governments in Iran and Syria - YES !!!!!!!
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