U.S., Britain Present New Iraq Resolution

Bush to Outline Iraq Plan in Speech Tonight

The United States and Britain presented the United Nations Security Council with a new draft resolution today that formally transfers power in Iraq to a "sovereign interim government" by June 30 and gives foreign troops the authority to "take all necessary measures" to ensure secure and prevent terrorism in the country.

The draft resolution, introduced at a closed-door meeting of the Security Council, gives the foreign troops a mandate of at least a year in Iraq, but allows the transitional Iraqi government to request a review of the mandate at any time.

The resolution will be among the main topics of a speech tonight by President Bush, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. The speech is the first of a series of addresses intended to stem eroding public support in the United States for Bush's policies in Iraq.

In the speech at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., at 8 p.m. EDT, Bush "will outline five specific steps we are taking to build a free and democratic Iraq for the Iraqi people," McClellan said at a White House briefing. In addition to U.S. diplomatic efforts, including the draft Security Council resolution, McClellan said, the address will deal with plans for elections in Iraq, efforts to eliminate security threats there and moves to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure. The speech is being televised live by CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC.

The proposed Security Council resolution is aimed at conferring international legitimacy on the Iraqi interim government that is to receive political power at the end of next month from the occupation administration, a body headed by American diplomat L. Paul Bremer and officially known as the Coalition Provisional Authority.

The draft drew expressions of concern from some Security Council members -- notably France, Germany, Russia and China -- that it fails to give the Iraqis full sovereignty. But Germany's U.N. ambassador, Gunter Plueger, said the U.S. text represents "a good basis for discussion."

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said, "I think here there really is broad agreement," the Associated Press reported. "A consensus is producible, possible and desirable." Germany was among a number of U.S. allies that strongly opposed last year's U.S. invasion of Iraq.

The resolution leaves some key political issues unresolved, including who will have ultimate control over the use of Iraqi oil revenues, the duration of the U.S. military stay in Iraq and the extent of Iraq's authority over its own security forces.

French, German, Russian and Chinese diplomats have insisted the Iraqis be given control over their own police and the right to veto U.S. orders to send Iraqi forces into combat.

China's U.N. ambassador, Wang Guangya, said that he and other council envoys would introduce amendments that can "improve" the American text. "We need to give more say to the Iraqis on the role that will be played by the multinational force and also the duration" it can remain in Iraq. "It seems that it will be staying there even beyond 12 months."

U.S. and British officials said that they will define the limits of Iraq's power over military matters in a separate exchange of letters with the representatives of Iraq's caretaker government, which is expected to be identified by a U.N. special envoy to Iraq in the coming weeks.

Through the resolution, the Bush administration also seeks a U.N. imprimatur on the U.S.-led multinational force that administration officials have said is needed to maintain security after the formal transfer of sovereignty. U.S. officials have said the 135,000 American troops now occupying Iraq would leave if asked to do so by the new interim Iraqi government, but that such a request is unlikely because Iraqi authorities realize that their own forces cannot yet maintain security.

The resolution's provision on the multinational force gives it a mandate to remain in Iraq for at least a year, at which point the mandate is to be reviewed by the Security Council. But the resolution also allows the Iraqi government to request a review of the mandate earlier if it wishes.

"The Iraqis can call for a review anytime they want," said Richard Grenall, a spokesman for the U.S. mission to the United Nations.