Iraqis agree to form government within weeks

By PHIL REEVES and RUPERT CORNWELL

BAGHDAD - Almost 300 rival Iraqi leaders have set aside their differences and say they will choose a transitional government within a month.

The new Iraqi government will pave the way for elections and will be chosen during a national conference to be held in Baghdad, they agreed.

The US role in the interim government remains a divisive issue, with many fearing Washington will impose its will on Iraq. The 10-hour Baghdad meeting was convened by Jay Garner, the retired US general who is to lead the administration in Iraq to oversee reconstruction work until an interim government takes over.

President George Bush said the rebuilding of post-Saddam Iraq would be a lengthy task. But he vowed the US would see the job through to make sure Iraqis chose the government they wanted, that guaranteed human rights and gave a voice to all citizens. Reiterating Washington's demand for a lifting of UN sanctions, Mr Bush declared the country was recovering not just from weeks of conflict but from decades of totalitarian rule.

"The former regime impoverished Iraq in every way," he said, citing the example that only half as many hospitals existed in Iraq as in 1990.

Every day, life in Iraq was improving, the President told a boisterous and largely Iraqi-American audience in Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit where 300,000 Arab-Americans live. The US had said it would get rid of a repressive regime and had kept its word.

"Now America pledges to help Iraq build a prosperous and peaceful nation, and we will keep our word again."

Iraqi oil was flowing again to fuel Iraq's power plants, Mr Bush asserted. Much work, though, remained to be done. Congress had allocated $2.5bn for reconstruction. But "it's time for the UN to lift sanctions so Iraqis can use their own resources to build their own prosperity."

He promised that the Iraqi people would choose their own leader and government. "America has no intention of imposing our form of government or culture. But we will ensure all citizens have a voice and all have their rights protected. Iraq will be democratic."

The mystery over Saddam Hussein's fate deepened when American officials confirmed that Tariq Aziz, the former Deputy Prime Minister who surrendered, has told interrogators he saw Saddam alive in early April.

Mr Bush said last week that US intelligence had some evidence suggesting Saddam might be dead but there would be no formal statement without proof.

In public, Washington professes indifference about whether Saddam is alive or dead but, in private, the issue is becoming as much of a concern as the possible whereabouts of any chemical and biological weapons in whose name Britain and America invaded Iraq in the first place.

- INDEPENDENT

Herald Feature: Iraq