Powell Heads To Iraq Meeting In Geneva

He can count on the support of Britain, Washington’s closest ally in the war, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

But he will be facing stiff opposition from France and Russia, which, backed by China, have tabled amendments to a U.S. resolution that would water down U.S. prerogatives and shift much of the U.S. say in Iraq to the UN.

The French counter-proposals were drawn up jointly with Germany, a non-permanent member of the security council which, along with Paris and Moscow and, to a lesser degree Beijing, had fervently opposed the war.

U.S. officials have been downplaying the stakes of the Saturday meeting to avoid the impression it will signal a return to the boisterous debates that preceded the invasion.

The White House claimed the French and Germans were not opposed to the idea of a new resolution, and the State Department said Powell and Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov had had a "constructive discussion" on the matter.

"We would expect the discussion (Saturday) to be about the concepts of how we go forward in the resolution and generally with the UN on Iraq, not a negotiation on the text itself," spokesman Richard Boucher said earlier this week.

U.S. diplomats also have been stressing the Geneva meeting would constitute an "informal discussion," and not negotiations on precise measures to be taken in Iraq.

A U.S. plan presented last week includes the creation of a multinational force under UN mandate but U.S. command, aimed at encouraging more countries to send troops to Iraq.

But Washington’s capacity to ease its load by sharing political power in Iraq and gaining a greater international contribution, both in troops and cash, remained uncertain.

Even the fact of its again going before the UN, which it ignored when it invaded Iraq, has been seen as an about-face by President George W. Bush’s administration, under pressure of the nagging resistance to U.S. troops in Iraq and the skyrocketing cost of keeping them there.

A leading U.S. "hawk," Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, assured a Senate committee the United States was ready to share political authority in Iraq with its allies in reconstruction operations.

Washington wants "more international troops to share the burden of providing stability forces," he said. "We’re prepared to do what’s needed to make it work."

The State Department indicated that Washington had no intention of being shunted aside after having borne the brunt of the military, political and economic effort in Iraq.

"Proposals have to be grounded in the reality of the current situation," said Boucher.

“You can’t pretend the war never happened, you can’t pretend the coalition never happened, you can’t pretend that the Iraqis have not already made considerable progress under the governing council."

The U.S. resolution to be discussed in Geneva "takes as a point of departure the reality of the situation, that the coalition is already working with the governing council, the Iraqis, to move forward toward constitutional elections and also to move forward on the exercise of sovereignty.

"We think that all council members do share essentially the same objective, that’s to help Iraq and the Iraqi people exercise their full sovereignty as quickly as possible," he said.

The differences, he said, rest in the steps to be taken to get there.