A British official said London hopes the letters will create a National Security Committee on which Iraqis would sit, giving them veto power over major military operations -- like last month's offensive in Fallujah that outraged many Iraqis. Germany has called for such a council as a vehicle for sharing power.
In Baghdad, Mahmoud Othman, a Sunni Kurd member of the Governing Council, said multinational forces should be under UN command -- a possibility ruled out by the US and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
"If that is not possible, then the Iraqi side must play an important role," Othman told the Arab TV station al-Jazeera. "Why cannot we have a joint command, Iraqi-American? Why only American? ... This is important to Iraqis."
OWNERSHIP
German UN ambassador Gunter Pleuger called the draft "a good basis of discussion" and said "we will have to make sure that this process provides Iraqi ownership for the political process as well as for the process of economic reconstruction."
A French diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, called the mood "constructive," but said the US would not be given "a blank check" in Iraq.
French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier meanwhile said the US-British draft resolution needed more work. "It is a draft -- a draft which should be discussed and improved," Barnier said after talks in Paris with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
Barnier told reporters that Paris seeks a timeline for handing over control of the Iraqi armed forces. The Iraqi government should "in time" have "authority over police forces and the Iraqi army," he said.
For its part, China said it was premature to discuss sending Chinese troops to the country.
"We are carefully studying the draft resolution on Iraq presented by the United States and Britain," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao (
Asked if China would contribute troops to a multinational force, Liu said: "On the question you raise, right now it is still too early to discuss it."
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