U.S.-French Rift Reopened as Powell Arrives for Talks

Saturday, September 13, 2003

By Steven R. Weisman

New York Times Writer

"Nobody wants to turn sovereignty back to the Iraqi people as fast as the United States does, President Bush does and I do," Mr. Powell told France 2, a television network. But he said that the American occupation under "can't suddenly just step aside and turn it over — to whom?"

GENEVA -- NYT
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, reopening the trans-Atlantic rift over Iraq — this time about expanding the authority of the United Nations there — said today that a French proposal to cut back the role of the American-led occupation was unacceptable.

Arriving in Geneva after midnight for intensive talks on Saturday about what role the United Nations should play, Mr. Powell also labeled as "totally unrealistic" a French suggestion that Iraq establish a provisional government in a month, write a constitution by the end of this year and hold elections next spring, all under United Nations auspices.

[Reuters reported Saturday morning that Mr. Powell would visit Iraq and Kuwait after the meetings in Geneva.

"In Iraq, he will meet with Iraqis and with members of the Coalition Provisional Authority in order to see first hand the progress being made by the international community and by the Iraqi people in rebuilding their nation," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in the statement.]

"It is delightful if one could do that, but one can't do that," Mr. Powell told reporters on the way here, adding that the French proposals were "interesting, but not executable."

His comments lent a sense of déjà vu to the Geneva talks, which were called by Kofi Annan, secretary general of the United Nations, expressly in order to avoid a repetition of the dispute that divided the United States from France, Germany and Russia in the weeks leading up to the Iraq war.

Mr. Powell said that an overly rapid timetable toward self-government would disrupt the efforts of the Iraqi Governing Council to restore stability in Iraq. He said the French proposals were "interesting, but not executable."

By contrast, American officials have said that a new Iraqi constitution probably could not be adopted until well into next year, and that it might take as much as a year after that for a democratically elected government to be installed. In the meantime, the United States wants to retain the main authority over the transition.

All the differences revolved around the timetable for self-rule in Iraq, and who would oversee it. Perhaps surprisingly, American and European diplomats say there is far less disagreement over the idea that a United Nations mandate is needed over the occupying security forces while the United States should remain in charge of them.
(More: company)

2003 © The New York Times Company.

Dan