Iraq, U.S. end power deadlock

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraqi officials prevailed in their choice for president over the candidate favored by the United States, allowing a U.N. envoy Tuesday to appoint an interim government reflecting Iraq's religious and cultural diversity to rule after the return of sovereignty June 30.

Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer, a Sunni Muslim critic of the occupation, was named to the largely ceremonial post. Al-Yawer was the choice of the U.S.-picked Iraqi Governing Council, which dissolved itself immediately so that the new government can start work even before it takes power from the American-led coalition at the end of the month.

Among its first tasks will be to negotiate a crucial agreement on the status of U.S.-led international forces that will remain here after sovereignty is restored and to tackle the country's tenuous security situation.

At the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday, the United States and Britain circulated a revised resolution that would give the interim government control over the Iraqi army and police and end the mandate for the multinational force by January 2006 at the latest.

Critics -- namely France, Russia and Germany -- had said the previous U.S. resolution did not go far enough in granting Iraqis genuine power over their own national affairs. Iraq's new foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, was traveling to New York on Tuesday to join the debate.

The new Cabinet -- a prime minister, a deputy premier for security and 31 ministers who include six women -- will take over day-to-day operations of government ministries immediately, although the U.S.-run Coalition Provisional Authority remains the sole sovereign power in Iraq until June 30.

British-educated Shiite politician Iyad Allawi, a longtime opposition figure known for his close ties to the State Department and the CIA, was named prime minister on Friday.

The Cabinet draws its membership from Iraq's ethnic, religious and cultural mosaic, bringing together lawyers, politicians, academics, human rights activists, engineers and businessmen from a broad spectrum in contrast to Saddam Hussein's regime, which revolved around a Sunni Muslim clique from his hometown of Tikrit.

Security remains the primary threat facing the new government, which will rule until national elections by Jan. 31. The ceremony introducing the new government took place under tight security in the heavily guarded Green Zone headquarters of the U.S. occupation administration.

During the ceremony, Allawi focused on security, saying he would ask Iraq's allies for help "in defeating the enemies of Iraq." He also pledged to strengthen the army and raise soldiers' pay. Iraq's security forces, he said, will be a "pivotal partner" with U.S. and other coalition troops in the fight to restore security.

Switching from Arabic to English for the benefit of coalition leaders in the audience, Allawi said: "We're grateful to the national alliance led by the Americans who have sacrificed so much to liberate us."

More than 800 U.S. service members have been killed since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

Coalition troops are fighting a Sunni insurgency in the capital and areas to the west and north as well as a Shiite revolt in Baghdad and in the south. Suicide bombings have claimed hundreds of lives across the nation.

The lack of security is blamed for everything from insufficient power supplies to a slow economic recovery.

"The world and your neighbors expect you to bring about security, stability for the people of Iraq who have suffered enough," Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N. envoy, told the new government.

Tuesday's announcement capped four weeks of deliberations by Brahimi, the coalition, the Governing Council and thousands of Iraqis whose advice and views he sought.

The deadlock over the presidency delayed the Cabinet announcement by one day and threatened a rift with the Americans at a time when Washington is under pressure internationally to grant Iraqis full sovereignty.

According to Iraqi politicians, the Americans insisted that Adnan Pachachi, a former foreign minister, become president. Most of the Governing Council wanted al-Yawer, a 45-year-old engineer and tribal leader. Pachachi, an 81-year-old Sunni Muslim, told reporters he turned down the presidency for "personal reasons."

At the welcoming ceremony, al-Yawer pledged to rise "above sectarianism and divisions" and restore Iraq's "civilized face."

Al-Yawer has repeatedly spoken against the U.S.-led occupation, but never advocated violence. He hails from the northern city of Mosul and has engineering degrees from Saudi Arabia's Petroleum and Minerals University and Georgetown University.

The presidency is a symbolic position, but al-Yawer -- as the highest-ranking Sunni in the government -- will likely hold considerable influence through his elaborate network of contacts among the tribes and clans of Iraq.