Envoy Bowed to Pressure in Choosing Leaders

Brahimi appealed to Iraqis to "give this government a chance."

"There is a lot of talent in the cabinet," he said. He justified his decision to include politicians in the cabinet, despite his earlier intention to limit the administration to technocrats, saying that "the best way to build support is to have a government which is as inclusive as possible, and inclusion means also political actors."

He also criticized the U.S. strategy of relying on force to combat the insurgency, suggesting that a political dialogue needs to be broached with some opponents of the occupation. "I think it's a little bit too easy to call everybody a terrorist," he said. "I think if you find out that there are people who are not terrorists, who are respectable, genuine Iraqi patriots, you must find a way of talking to them."

Allawi's cabinet held its first meeting, assembling for nearly three hours to discuss security issues in the heavily fortified Green Zone, where the occupation authority has its headquarters. The cabinet sat around a large oval table in a building that had been used by the Governing Council.

Allawi called security "our number one priority."

"Yesterday and today, there have been terrorist attacks, and as Iraqis we want to work with the multinational force and with friends and our brothers in the region to defeat these continued threats to Iraq and the Iraqi people," he said. "We are sure we will prevail ultimately and we will win."

Asked whether he supported the Bush administration's desire to retain full control over multinational forces in Iraq after June 30, Allawi declined to provide a specific answer but noted that the troops should be "under the control of the United Nations," which could select a U.S. commander.

His finance minister, Adel Abdel-Mehdi, was more specific. "Iraqis insist on handling security by themselves," he said. The new government, he said, would seek to have the responsibility for national security "placed correctly between the Iraqi side and the multinational forces."