BAGHDAD, Iraq — The Bush administration told leaders of Iraq’s Governing Council on Friday that it intends to transfer sovereignty of Iraq by next summer to a provisional government selected by delegates chosen in town hall meetings across the country, officials of the U.S.-appointed council said.
Driven to revise its blueprint for Iraq’s political transition because of intensifying attacks by Iraqi insurgents, the administration’s new plan abandons a time-consuming process that would have required Iraqis to write and approve a constitution and hold national elections for a permanent government before the handover of power. Under the new strategy, sovereignty would first be given to a provisional government, which then would oversee the writing of a constitution and the convening of elections for new government.
But some council officials said the plan, which does not envisage any sort of national election until late 2004 or early 2005, could prove controversial among Iraqis. While there appears to be broad public support for a fast handover of sovereignty, there also is a strong desire among many Iraqis to choose their new leaders, even interim ones, through an election. It remains unclear whether town meetings, where participation likely would be restricted to people deemed to be community leaders, would be regarded as legitimate.
The new plan would enable President Bush to end the formal occupation of Iraq before the 2004 election, a key goal of the White House. But it would not end the American presence in Iraq. U.S. officials expect the provisional government to permit tens of thousands of American soldiers to remain in the country, along with hundreds of civilian reconstruction specialists.
The administration’s plan was outlined by the U.S. administrator of Iraq, Paul Bremer, to the nine presidents of the Governing Council in a meeting Friday night in Baghdad, the council officials said. The officials said the plan was received warmly by the presidents, who have been calling on the administration to hand over power more quickly.
"There was strong support for it," said a senior official of the Iraqi National Congress, the political organization headed by Ahmad Chalabi, one of the nine presidents. "Everyone was happy with it."
U.S. officials in Baghdad would not comment publicly on the plan. Daniel Senor, a spokesman for the U.S.-led occupation authority, said Bremer returned to Baghdad from Washington on Friday morning "with some ideas that he began discussing with members of the Governing Council."
Bremer had left Baghdad on short notice for two days of high-level discussions at the White House and the Pentagon about the revised political plan.
The administration wants the new political blueprint to appear as if it was generated by the council and not by Bremer and the White House. Council officials said the presidents intend to discuss the new approach with the full 24-member council today at a meeting that Bremer may attend. Assuming there is general agreement among the council members, the officials said the presidents would announce details of the plan in the following days.
"It will be pitched as probably some kind of joint agreement, but it will be what Bremer proposed," the Iraqi National Congress official said. The presidents, the official said, will "accept it with very few modifications."
Administration officials previously expressed a preference for having the Governing Council agree on a way to quickly write a constitution, enabling a permanent government to have been seated before the transfer of sovereignty. But the council has been unable to overcome differences on how the document should be written. Shiite Muslim members want the drafters of the constitution to be chosen through a national election, while Sunni Muslims and ethnic Kurds say town-hall meetings would suffice.
The disagreement has led to paralysis on the council, fueling fears on Bremer’s staff and in the White House that the transition could be prolonged. With attacks on U.S. forces numbering more than 30 a day, the administration has been keen to find any way possible to shorten the handover without appearing to be cutting and running.
Under the administration’s plan, town hall meetings would be held early next year across Iraq to select delegates to a national convention. Participants in the meetings likely would be restricted to political, religious, tribal, academic and union leaders as well as other influential figures.
That restriction prompted concern among some council members. "It will be difficult, in some places, to determine who will be the best people to attend such meetings," said council member Samir Shaker Sumaidy. "Selection is a process that is open to challenge."
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