Posted on 04/07/2003 11:06:17 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
Us to begin work on interim Iraqi authority-Powell
BELFAST, April 7 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Monday the military campaign in Iraq was going "exceptionally well" and that Washington would send a team to Iraq this week to begin looking at what is needed to set up an interim Iraqi authority.
Speaking to reporters travelling with U.S. President George W. Bush to Northern Ireland, Powell said it was now time to start talking about the future of Iraq because the military campaign was going "exceptionally well." He played down a transatlantic rift over the role the United Nations would play in postwar Iraq.
He said statements by Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair at a Northern Ireland summit would reflect that "the hostilities phase is coming to a conclusion, and it's time for all of us to talk about the post-hostilities phase."
"We'll be sending people over this week to begin the process of bringing together a group that would constitute the (interim Iraqi) authority," Powell added.
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