Cleric's Objections Forces Re-Examination of Plans for Iraq Transition

[papau]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAYD3Y8EPD.html

Cleric's Objections Forces Re-Examination of Plans for Iraq Transition
By Barry Schweid
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - It's back to the drawing board for the Bush administration as it looks for an acceptable way to turn over power to Iraqis by the end of June. <snip>

The plan may have to altered, administration officials said Tuesday, on condition of anonymity, after Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani demanded that any agreement to let U.S. forces remain in postwar Iraq must be approved by directly elected representatives.
<snip>Hovering over the transition are questions about how diverse an Iraqi government would be. <snip>

Other officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the discussions under way in Washington and with Iraqi leaders involve the possibility of opening up the caucuses in ways that permit wider participation.

But the officials stressed the target date for transition remains the end of June.


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/13/international/middleeast/13DIPL.html

Bush Team Revising Plans for Granting Self-Rule to Iraqis
By STEVEN R. WEISMAN


ASHINGTON, Jan. 12 — The Bush administration, seeking to overcome new resistance on the political and security fronts in Iraq, is revising its proposed process for handing over power to an interim Iraqi government by June 30, administration officials said Monday.<snip>

Administration officials also expressed concern about a separate part of Ayatollah Sistani's statement on Sunday that demanded that any agreement for American-led forces to remain in Iraq be approved by directly elected representatives.Those twin setbacks raise questions about who would have to reach an agreement with the United States that would allow more than 100,000 American troops to remain in the country after power is handed over to the Iraqis this summer.<snip>

Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, Democrat of West Virginia, was among a small number of lawmakers involved in intelligence briefings on Monday, and he said Monday evening that he did not see how the administration had a choice in the matter.

"Sistani probably isn't going to change his mind, so we're going to have to somehow change our caucus approach or modify it," Senator Rockefeller said. "I think that's going to be very hard to pull off by June 30."<snip>

Many in the administration expect an accommodation to be made with the Kurds. Indeed, they say that so many Iraqis expect such an accommodation that the likelihood that the United States would bow to Kurdish demands is probably what emboldened Ayatollah Sistani to take his hard line over the weekend.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-US-Iraq.html