Powell Gives Iraq 6 Months to Write New Constitution

Friday, September 26, 2003

By Steven R. Weisman

New York Times Writer

The United States has asked the Iraqi leaders to say how long it would take to write a charter and conduct elections. "Now, if they take forever to give us the answer to that question, then we've got a problem," Mr. Powell said. "But I think they'll give us an answer fairly quickly."

NYT
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, responding to demands from France and others for a rapid timetable for self-rule in Iraq, said yesterday that the United States would set a deadline of six months for Iraqi leaders working under the American-led occupation to produce a new constitution for their country.

The constitution, which would spell out whether Iraq should be governed by a presidential or parliamentary system, would clear the way for elections and the installation of a new leadership next year, Mr. Powell said. Not until then, he added, would the United States transfer authority from the American-led occupation to Iraq itself.

"We would like to put a deadline on them," he said in an interview with editorial writers, editors and reporters for The Times, referring to the Iraqi task of writing a constitution. "They've got six months. It'll be a difficult deadline to meet, but we've got to get them going."

More security problems today in Iraq, with bombings reported in Baghdad and the north, added to a sense of urgency, and the United Nations decided to remove most of the 86 foreigners it has working there.

Military officers also said they faced a very short deadline — days rather than weeks — before they had to decide whether to call up more National Guard and Reserve troops.

Mr. Powell's establishment of a deadline, and his tone of urgency in general, came as the United States has tried to satisfy France and other skeptical nations who say that a quick transfer of power to Iraqis must be part of any Security Council resolution expanding United Nations authority in Iraq.
(More: NYTimes.com International)
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Dan