The US is at odds with its chosen Iraqi politicians over how soon the US should restore sovereignty to Iraqis, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Monday.
But the US does not think the politicians on the Iraq Governing Council are ready to govern and it would have trouble persuading Congress to give the Iraqis some US$20 billion in US reconstruction aid, he said in an interview on the eve of high-level diplomacy on the future of the occupied country.
"They would like to move more quickly," Powell told the Charlie Rose Show late on Monday.
"But they have no assets, they do not have enough income coming in, they don't have the institutions of government yet ... To think that this can be done in a matter of weeks or a couple of months is very very unrealistic," he added.
"If you do it too soon ... that makes it very hard for us to ask the American Congress for $20 billion to funnel to an authority like that," he said.
US State Department officials have previously said that the 25 Iraqis on the council, who were selected by the US, are in no hurry to take power, disputing the French argument that a quick transfer is essential.
The question of how fast Iraqis should take over is at the center of an international debate over the future of Iraq, which US forces invaded without UN approval in March.
France, a permanent member of the Security Council, has pressed for a rapid restoration of Iraqi sovereignty. Most Arab countries have taken a similar position.
US President George W. Bush will meet the leaders of France and Germany, which opposed the invasion, during this week's session of the UN General Assembly in New York. He was to address the assembly as a whole yesterday.
Powell said it would take at least a year to complete the political process which the US envisions -- writing a new constitution, approving it by referendum, holding elections and setting up an elected government.
Even after that, the US could stay on in Iraq if the new government agrees, he said.
"There may be a relationship between the coalition members and that government going into the future, just as we have a relationship with South Korea and the European nations, where our presence served some useful purpose," he said.
RSS