An Iraqi women walks past U.S. tanks...

400th U.S. soldier dies in Iraq; Bremer meets with Iraqi leader
BAGHDAD (AP) - Chief U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer met with Iraq's Governing Council on Saturday to present Washington's latest policy proposals aimed at restoring Iraq's sovereignty within six or seven months. A roadside bomb killed a U.S. soldier, the 400th to die since the war began in March.


Bremer met in Baghdad Friday with Jalal Talabani, the head of the Iraqi Governing Council, to discuss Washington's new policy proposals regarding a return of Iraqi sovereignty, said Mahmoud Othman, a member of the body.

Othman did not specify what the proposals were, but said Bremer, who has just returned from talks with Bush administration officials, was meeting with the full council on Saturday, he said.

Senior administration officials told The Associated Press that the proposed changes include forming a new government before a constitution is written, thus effectively granting Iraq sovereignty by the middle of 2004. Previously, the Bush administration has insisted that a new charter be written and adopted before general elections are held, a process that was likely to last at least another year.

If the reported scenario is accurate, it appears the Bush administration has abandoned its own formula for transferring sovereignty and accepted one whose broad outlines coincide with council demands. The administration's goal appears to be to shift security responsibility to the Iraqis to reduce U.S. casualties before next year's presidential election in the United States.

A spokesman for the Iraqi National Congress, a political group led by council member Ahmad Chalabi, said a better way of moving forward would be to give the U.S.-picked council sovereign powers and leave intact the Cabinet it appointed in September.

"We are calling for a provisional government as a temporary solution for a limited period of time," spokesman Entifadh Qanbar said. He added that Chalabi, a moderate Shiite with close Pentagon links, supported the drafting of a new constitution by delegates sent to a national convention by provincial caucuses made up of prominent tribal leaders, academics, legal experts and leaders of civil society.

The insurgency, initially centered in the so-called Sunni Triangle of central Iraq, now appears to be spreading to the north and south of the country.

On Saturday, a roadside bomb exploded next to a patrol in Baghdad's northern Ad Hamiah neighborhood killing a U.S. soldier and injuring two others, a statement said. The wounded were evacuated to a military hospital in central Baghdad, it said.

The dead soldier was the 400th U.S. serviceman to die in Iraq since hostilities started March 20. The British military has reported 52 deaths so far in Iraq. Sixteen Italian service members also have died, along with one soldier each from Denmark, Spain, Ukraine and Poland.

Troops from the 101st Airborne Division arrested eight people suspected of conducting attacks against coalition forces and of belonging to the Fedayeen Saddam paramilitary group, the military said Saturday. One more Iraqi wanted for attacks on U.S. forces turned himself in, the military said.

Separately, the Coalition for Iraqi National Unity turned in to U.S. troops one surface to air missile, 11 anti-tank missiles, 38 RPG boosters and four RPG rounds.

ABC News reported that Washington's new proposals also call for provincial leaders to meet in the spring to choose delegates for an assembly, which would elect a transitional government by next summer. The United States would hand over power to this body.

The U.S. administration agreed to a plan by the Iraqi leadership to speed up the transfer of power, and give Iraqis control over their own wealth and political affairs while maintaining the presence of coalition forces, the New York Times said.

Meanwhile, attacks against coalition troops and their allies continued to claim more victims.

In the northern city of Mosul, Khalid Victor, a translator working for the municipal administration and his son were killed Saturday when gunmen opened fire at their car, officials said.

"It's obvious that they are targeting all Iraqis working with Americans," said a city official who declined to give his name.

In Australia, Defense Minister Robert Hill said the U.S.-led coalition may have underestimated the desire of fighters loyal to deposed leader Saddam Hussein to fight back in postwar Iraq, media reports said Saturday.

"With the benefit of hindsight, and of course in a country awash with arms, it now seems much more logical ... that they would attempt to fight back," he was quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press.