Iraq's interim leaders review transition plan

The Governing Council has been deeply divided by top Shiite Muslim cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani's rejection of the arcane system of indirect selection by caucus it announced two weeks ago to put a caretaker government in place by June next year. "We're going to discuss Ayatollah Sistani's proposal and council president Jalal Talabani will inform him of the results of our discussions," council member Rajaa Khuzai, a Shiite secularist, told AFP ahead of the Saturday morning meeting.

The US-led coalition too has been caught on the hop by opposition from among Iraq's majority community and admitted it considers the complaint significant enough for a major overhaul of the November 15 agreement signed with Talabani to be under consideration.

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On the record, US officials said they were discussing the demands of the Shiite religious leadership with the interim leadership as part of what they described as a "healthy" debate.

But off the record, a senior official told the Washington Post that the prior polls, which the coalition has so far resisted, were now a "possibility" and appeared to give Sistani a veto over their newly unveiled plans.

"If he says no to the caucuses, then we have to figure out a way to get elections done," the official was quoted as saying by the Post. "We're scrambling to find a solution."

The Shiite cleric's demand hit at the heart of the coalition's plans for a rapid transfer of sovereignty by highlighting the gap between its promises of post-Saddam democracy and its new plans to hand power to a government designated by a transitional assembly chosen by caucuses of selected notables.

US President George W. Bush met with four members of the Governing Council during his lightning stopover in Baghdad Thursday evening and briefly discussed the handover.

Challenged about the demands of Shiite religious leaders for immediate elections, Bush acknowledged that their grievances constituted an "overarching flaw" in the new transition blueprint which he had discussed with his Iraqi interlocutors.

But he added that he still thought "the game plan they've got now in place is a good plan" and was one that he himself had supported.

"To get where they need to be is going to require debate and discussion -- and that's healthy," he told journalists on Air Force One. "We've got to be realistic and patient about how they proceed."

Bush's comments were echoed by National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice, who accompanied him on his flying visit to Iraq.