U.S., Britain Differ on Iraqi Authority Over Foreign Troops

Now, he said, "every time there is an operation by British or American troops to restore order, this can be presented" as the action of an occupier.

That, he said, allows violent "elements" to be seen as an anti-occupation force rather than as anti-democratic force. A shift of responsibility for security decisions should make the true motives of insurgents "very visible to people."

Reporters questioned Powell at a photo opportunity later about Blair's comments on the relationship between coalition troops and the Iraqi government.

"The actual details of how the forces will work together are being worked out now," Powell said. "We're confident that this will be manageable.

"We want to take into account the views of the Iraqi interim government. They are sovereign. And so they have a role to play, obviously. They are sovereign. We are there at their consent, with their consent," Powell explained.

". . . So, obviously, we would take into account whatever they might say at a political and military level. And to make sure that that happens, we will be creating coordinating bodies, political coordinating bodies and military-to-military coordinating bodies, so that there's transparency with respect to what we are doing."

Powell added: "Now, ultimately, however, if it comes down to the United States armed forces protecting themselves or in some way accomplishing their mission in a way that might not be in total consonance with what the Iraqi interim government might want to do at a particular moment in time, U.S. forces remain under U.S. command and will do what is necessary to protect themselves."

He said there was no disagreement between Blair and the United States on the subject. "I don't think it's this big a deal, or it's not even a disagreement, because we have these sorts of arrangements now with coalition partners. The U.S. military commander has overall command, but any one of the coalition partners who were there ultimately responds to their own national command as well."

Other reservations about the draft resolution today came from Iraq's defense minister, Ali Allawi, who told reporters in London that U.S.-led troops should be able to leave Iraq in months rather than years.

In a statement later Tuesday, the Iraqi Governing Council itself said it wanted the resolution to address full Iraqi control of "the activities of the Iraqi armed forces and security forces."

Washington Post staff writer Colum Lynch at the United Nations contributed to this report.