NEW YORK — The Bush administration yesterday rejected a French demand that the U.S.-led coalition hand over nearly all control of Iraq within months, with National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice saying the proposal “just isn’t workable.”
“The transfer of sovereignty must be orderly and done in a way that is going to work,” Miss Rice said yesterday as she previewed President Bush’s speech today at the 58th U.N. General Assembly.
“The French plan, which would somehow try to transfer sovereignty to an unelected group of people, just isn’t workable,” she said at the White House briefing. “It’s a country that needs an orderly process to get to the writing of a constitution … followed then by elections and then by the transfer of sovereignty.”
The Bush administration on Sept. 3 proposed a U.N. Security Council resolution that calls for the creation of a multinational force in Iraq and international funds to help rebuild the war-torn country.
The resolution sets no timetable for a transfer of power to the 25-member, U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, as desired by some nations.
Miss Rice, however, believes that Iraq will not benefit from a premature turnover.
Her comments yesterday were echoed by the president, who said in a Fox News Channel interview last night that “the key on any resolution, however, is not to get in the way of an orderly transfer of sovereignty based upon a logical series of steps. And that’s constitution, elections, and then the transfer of authority.”
The chief U.S. administrator in Iraq also rejected the French demands, saying the Iraqis are not yet ready to build a democratic nation.
L. Paul Bremer, who appeared in Washington to brief the Senate Appropriations Committee on progress in Iraq, said yesterday that failure to establish a firm foundation for the nation “would strengthen the terrorists morally and materially. Success tells not just Iraqis but the world that there is hope, that the future is not defined by tyranny on one side and terrorism on the other.”
“No appointed government, not even one as honest and dedicated as the Iraqi Governing Council, can have the legitimacy necessary today to take on the difficult issues Iraqis face as they write their constitution and elect a government,” Mr. Bremer told lawmakers. “The only path to full Iraqi sovereignty is through a written constitution, ratified and followed by free, democratic elections.”
Mr. Bush said in the Fox interview that he wants the United Nations to take a leading role in laying out a constitution for Iraq. “I mean, they’re good at that,” he said.
While French President Jacques Chirac said Sunday that he is not inclined to use his veto power within the Security Council to thwart the U.S. resolution, he outlined yesterday a two-phase plan to turn the Iraqi government over to the people.
He wants to see a symbolic transfer to power to the Iraqi council, with real responsibilities following in six to nine months. The writing of a constitution, reconstruction of government ministries, and elections will take place subsequently under U.N. auspices, Mr. Chirac wrote in a New York Times column.
Mr. Chirac proposed a system similar to that in Afghanistan, where an interim government has full sovereignty until elections and the United States and other nations supply troops in an attempt to keep the peace.
“There will be no concrete solution unless sovereignty is transferred to Iraq as quickly as possible,” he said.
Miss Rice, however, dismissed the proposal. “It cannot be something that tries to give premature sovereignty … sovereignty in principle. Those ideas are just not going to work. We’ve got to have an orderly process.”
“It’s going to be a resolution that preserves the ability of the coalition to do what needs to be done on behalf of the Iraqi people on behalf of the region,” she said yesterday.
At the United Nations today, Mr. Bush will hear veiled criticism from the U.N. chief over the arguments the president used to justify the war to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
In his remarks at the start of the session, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will criticize pre-emptive strikes that don’t have the Security Council’s blessing, such as the U.S.-led war on Iraq, saying they go far beyond the traditional norms of self-defense.
“This logic represents a fundamental challenge to the principles on which, however imperfectly, world peace and stability have rested for the last 58 years,” he says, according to excerpts from his text released last night. “My concern is that, if it were to be adopted, it could set precedents that resulted in a proliferation of the unilateral and lawless use of force, with or without credible justification.”
At the White House yesterday, Mr. Bush met with two officials sent by the Iraqi council, Public Works Minister Nesreen Berwari and Electricity Minister Ayham Sameraei. Both agreed with the U.S. administration’s contention that more time is needed before Iraqis receive full control.
“We only need help in the beginning, and then we’ll do it ourselves,” Mrs. Berwari said. The two are part of a delegation seeking to claim Iraq’s U.N. seat today.
Mr. Sameraei predicted that the country would stabilize so that the United States could withdraw its troops “within a few years.”
“These two good souls found that the system they inherited was not conducive for taking care of the citizens,” Mr. Bush said. “I also appreciate the appraisal of what’s going on in Iraq, the assessment that we’re making good progress toward achieving our objectives.”
In his 22-minute address to foreign leaders gathered for the start of the General Assembly, Mr. Bush will not propose a timetable for turnover. Instead, the U.S. resolution will call on the Iraqi Governing Council to set a timetable of its own, which may assuage some skeptical nations.
Mr. Bush worked yesterday on the final draft of the speech, to be delivered at 10:30 a.m. He will issue a blunt “call to action,” asserting that the United States and its coalition members “made the right decision” to oust Saddam.
The president rejected calls by some — including a directive from Madeleine K. Albright, President Clinton’s secretary of state — that he give a “conciliatory” speech.
• Betsy Pisik contributed to this report.
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