Annan Backs U.S. on Iraq Plan

Bush administration officials appear interested in this option. "The general buzz here is that we may end up handing over to an expanded governing council," said a State Department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The official said that Washington would still prefer a political transition that resembles the U.S.-backed plan for 18 regional caucuses but that "we recognize the constraints."

State Department spokesman Richard A. Boucher said there are "at least a dozen, maybe a score," of ideas for a political transition in play.

"I'm not going to lean toward any particular one or start throwing darts at the list," he said. "I think it's important for us all to remember that we have very similar goals in Iraq. We all want Iraq to have a democracy."

The U.N. chief's decision comes after both Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and a majority of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council rejected the Nov. 15 plan to hold regional caucuses.

Annan outlined Brahimi's preliminary conclusions in a meeting Thursday with officials from more than a dozen countries that make up the "friends of Iraq" group and later at a luncheon with representatives of the 15 Security Council member nations.

Besides crafting a detailed blueprint for the political handover, the Bush administration has yet to decide how much power to share with the world body in implementing the plan.

Intense discussions are expected to take place behind the scenes in New York over the next week to 10 days as U.N. officials draw up proposals and try to determine the role to be played by the Security Council.

Despite the Bush administration's increased reliance on the United Nations, senior administration officials are wary of involving the Security Council in Iraq policy.

One State Department official voiced concern about the possibility that member nations might call for a Security Council resolution to formally approve a new plan for Iraq's transition, which could complicate and delay the process with just over four months remaining.

"There's ample opportunity to hijack this in the Security Council and take it down a road we don't want to see it go," said the official, speaking on the condition that he not be named.

"It may be that some want to use it . . . for their own gains in Iraq."

France and Germany, the council's two toughest critics of the U.S.-led war against Iraq, said Wednesday that the Security Council should adopt a new resolution.

Germany's ambassador to the United Nations, Gunter Pleuger, said previous resolutions on postwar Iraq would not be sufficient to reflect the dramatic political changes in Iraq.

"It would also be desirable to have a new resolution to draw [in] those countries who are really needed, not so much the Europeans but also Arab-speaking countries and Islamic countries," he said.

Annan, who is scheduled to fly to Japan on Friday, is not expected to provide a formal set of recommendations on Iraq's political future until after he returns to New York on Feb. 25, according to U.N. officials.