Powell Sees Little Shift on Iraq

After a meeting here of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said Saturday that there had been “some narrowing” of a deep gap over the political transition in Iraq but that “differences and difficulties” remained.

Powell, after five hours of talks with the foreign ministers of France, Russia, Britain and China, warned that haste in turning over power in Iraq could endanger a fragile process.

“You have to have a government that is not only there with the doors open but it has to be functioning ... in a way that the people will have confidence in it. It has to be functioning in a way that the people will respect it,” said Powell, who later headed to Iraq. “The worst thing we can do is to set them up for failure.”

The United States and France remain sharply at odds over the role of the United Nations and the timetable for handing back power to the Iraqis, according to French officials. The United States is seeking a new U.N. resolution creating a multinational force in Iraq led by the U.S., but France, in particular, has called for a swift return of sovereignty to Iraqis, with the U.N. overseeing the transition.

“Our proposals remain on the table. More work needs to be done,” French Foreign Ministry spokesman Herve Ladsous said in an interview after the talks. Paris proposed last week that political power be turned over to a provisional Iraqi government next month, a new constitution be written by year’s end and elections held in the spring -- a timetable rejected by the United States as unrealistic.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who took the unusual step of summoning representatives of the world’s five major powers to Geneva in the wake of President Bush’s address last Sunday saying he would seek more international help in Iraq, told a joint news conference that a “thorough review” of the situation in Iraq had been conducted in a “constructive” atmosphere and had allowed them to identify “points of convergence.”

In a subtle rebuke to the squabbling powers, however, Annan said that such a level of consensus was not enough to help Iraq and that a revised approach must be “well defined” to solve Iraq’s problems.

“Consensus is essential and achievable,” Annan said. “But consensus is not enough. We want a strong and valid resolution which will support our efforts on the ground ... to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people.”

He said the talks would continue in New York in advance of the opening of the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 22.

The Bush administration had not expected a major breakthrough in the Geneva session, with one senior official saying last week that “Powell will be in a listening mode.” Administration officials also acknowledged last week that few nations would soon contribute troops or money for rebuilding Iraq even if a U.N. resolution were approved.

The differences over a proposed resolution have been so deep among the five permanent members of the Security Council, each with veto power, that the main goal here has been a “breakthrough in attitude” rather than agreement on specific terms for a new resolution, according to a well-placed diplomat in Geneva.

“The key is to get some clarity,” particularly on who would oversee the political transition, said the diplomat, who requested anonymity.

That much may have been achieved, at least in part.

In his own briefing to American reporters, Powell described the talks as “good, open, candid [and] frank,” adding that the foreign ministers had gone back over some points “several times” to ensure a clear understanding of goals and positions. Powell credited France with putting forward its own proposals “not in an obstructionist manner.”

“Our common goal is to transfer authority back to the Iraqi people as quickly as possible, the question is on what glide path,” he said.

At the joint news conference, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said his nation, like all other participants, sought to “find solutions, not create new problems.”

After the talks, a senior State Department official said the U.S. is now fairly confident that none of the other four veto-wielding members of the Security Council will nix the effort, the kind of threat that contributed to the Bush administration’s decision last spring to withdraw a resolution that would have endorsed military action.

“We don’t smell a veto,” the senior official said, although he added that Washington would introduce a new draft of the proposal first circulated last month after further consultations were complete.

Faced with ongoing security problems and political uncertainty in Iraq, the Bush administration opted to go back to the United Nations to seek its imprimatur to encourage other nations to provide troops to enhance security, as well as funding for reconstruction. The effort has slowed over the issue of who would control the process once the U.N. became more involved.

The United States wants the coalition it led to topple Saddam Hussein to retain control in coordination with the United Nations, while France wants the United Nations to be the ultimate arbiter of the process.

By the end of the talks Saturday, the French had come around to using the word “gradual” in discussions of the transition process, the senior U.S. official said.

Adnan Pachachi, a former Iraqi foreign minister and U.N. ambassador who is now on the 25-member Iraqi Governing Council, said in Geneva that Iraqis want to assume sovereignty as soon as possible. But he also said the process of transition, which includes writing a new constitution and holding elections, might take until mid-2004 -- the proposed U.S. timetable.

Meanwhile, in his weekly radio address Saturday, President Bush said Powell’s mission in Geneva is part of a “clear strategy” by the U.S. in Iraq.

The three-part approach, he said, calls for stamping out the violence that has marred the postwar period, enlisting more international support in the rebuilding of Iraq and aiding the country’s move toward self-rule.

Bush’s comments came in the wake of a new national poll indicating that a majority of the American public questions the administration’s handling of postwar Iraq. A CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll released Friday found that 59% of those surveyed did not think the administration had a clear plan for handling the situation in Iraq.

The president Saturday said U.S. troops are carrying out a major operation aimed at capturing followers of Hussein and foreign fighters.

The lengthy meeting in Geneva delayed Powell’s departure for Iraq. The State Department announced that Powell would arrive in Baghdad today for a two-day visit, followed by talks in Kuwait on Tuesday.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Powell would meet with members of the Iraqi Governing Council and the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority “to see firsthand the progress being made by the international community and by the Iraqi people in rebuilding their nation and society.”

Times staff writer Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar in Washington contributed to this report.