Iraq and the United States attempted to clear the way for passage of a new UN resolution by devising a plan for military partnership when the US-led occupation ends officially on June 30.
US Ambassador John Negroponte, who hopes for a vote in the 15-nation Security Council on Tuesday, said that a revised draft, the fourth in two weeks, would be introduced on Monday.
The one hitch that might prevent quick adoption of the US-British measure on Baghdad's future is a proposed amendment from France that would make explicit a virtual Iraqi veto over major US-led military operations.
But diplomats said it was doubtful Washington would agree to the language France had suggested.
The control of the 160,000 US-led troops was the most contentious issue in the resolution, which gives international endorsement to the interim government and authorizes a multinational force under American command.
The Security Council at a special session on Sunday received separate letters from US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Iraq's new prime minister, Iyad Allawi.
"We're confident that they do the trick," said Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry of Britain. He said his government understood that "the policy on sensitive offensive operations will require the assent" of a new Iraqi ministerial committee.
But the letters do not state that explicitly, prompting France, backed in part by China, Germany, Algeria and Chile, to request the resolution make clear Iraq can block a major offensive US military campaign, such as the American assault on Falluja, which Iraqis opposed.
In his letter, Allawi said he would chair a Ministerial Committee for National Security that would set the framework for security operations and would include American commanders to devise "mechanisms of coordination and cooperation."
He said this group needed to "reach agreement of the full range of fundamental security and policy issues, including policy on sensitive offensive operations."
Powell made similar statements, saying the US command would try to reach agreement on security and policy issues in "partnership" with Iraq.
He said the foreign troops would "coordinate with Iraqi security forces at all levels -- national, regional and local -- to achieve unity of command of military operations in which Iraqi forces are engaged."
Powell also said the US military would continue to jail Iraqis but only "where this is necessary for imperative reasons of security."
Council members on Monday were also scheduled to hear a briefing by UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, instrumental in helping to form an interim Iraqi government in time for the handover.
In the third revision of the resolution on Friday, the United States and Britain gave the interim Iraqi government the right to order US troops to leave Iraq.
The latest draft also tightened language making it clear the mandate of the force would expire in January 2006, when a permanent Iraqi government is expected to take office.
(China Daily via agencies, June 8, 2004)
