Iraq

U.S. may just leave Iraqi council in charge

BAGHDAD - If an influential Shiite cleric sticks to his demand for early elections, the coalition may turn sovereignty over to the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, coalition and Iraqi officials said Tuesday. One top Iraqi official said the cleric would accept the idea.

Thousands of Iraqis demonstrated again on Tuesday in four major cities, demanding that the United States turn over Saddam Hussein to stand trial, that Hussein be executed and that direct elections be held.

The protesters, mainly Shiite Muslims, gathered in central Baghdad, at a square where a towering statue of Saddam Hussein was torn down by jubilant Iraqis in April; in the southern city of Basra; and in Najaf and Kerbala, two Shiite holy cities.

The spate of demonstrations and a suicide-bomb attack in central Baghdad on Sunday that killed 25 people have heightened the sense of combustibility in Iraq.

On Tuesday night, a mortar shell landed inside the civil administration's compound, exploding in the parking lot of a building that houses many offices and some soldiers. The projectile caused little damage, a U.S. spokesman said. Officials were investigating a report that one person was wounded.

Transferring power to the Governing Council was among options under study if Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani cannot be convinced that early elections are not feasible, the Associated Press and other media reported, quoting coalition officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Publicly, coalition officials have insisted the best way to choose the transitional legislature is by 18 regional caucuses. The legislators will select the new government, which will assume sovereignty July 1.

U.S. officials hope to convince Sistani that a legislature chosen by caucuses would have greater legitimacy than the Governing Council. The United States and the Governing Council asked U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday to send a team to Iraq to determine if early elections can be held.

U.N. diplomats said Tuesday that Annan was likely to approve the request within days, and that the team would head to Iraq soon. Coalition officials believe the team will agree that early elections are not feasible.

Electing the lawmakers by the July 1 deadline, officials insist, is not feasible due to the precarious security situation and lack of voter rolls. But at the same time, no one wants to move the deadline back.

In Washington, President Bush discussed the issue Tuesday with the current president of the Governing Council, Adnan Pachachi, and Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, a Shiite council member who is close to Sistani.

Bush said he still hopes the timetable for transferring sovereignty and formally ending the military occupation will hold. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the Bush administration was considering "refinements that make sense and get the support of all the parties."

Sistani's support for the political process is essential because of his immense prestige within Iraq's largest community. Shiites are believed to constitute 60 percent of Iraq's 25-million people. However, the ayatollah, who hasn't left his house in months, has refused to meet the top U.S. administrator, L. Paul Bremer, and does not grant interviews.

The AP reported that an unnamed prominent council member who is in regular contact with Sistani said handing power to the Governing Council would meet with the approval of the 75-year-old cleric.

Mouwafak al-Rabii, a Shiite, told the AP that Sistani would accept a delay in elections for up to six months if U.N. experts conclude they cannot be held before July 1.

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