US Admits Failure To Bring Iraq Democracy, Scraps Caucuses

White House Admits Failure of Iraq Caucus Plan
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By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration acknowledged on Friday that its ambitious plan to transfer sovereignty directly to a democratically elected government in Iraq (news - web sites) was unlikely to succeed, after Iraqis insisted on elections untainted by U.S. influence.


White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the administration's initial plan for an interim, democratically elected government through a complicated series of 18 regional caucuses had failed to pass muster with Iraqi leaders.


"There's wide recognition that the caucus plan is something that has not received much support," he said. "This is becoming more and more of an Iraqi-driven process."


Barely four months before the June 30 transfer of sovereignty by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority, the White House said it was talking to Iraqi leaders about new options for leaving the Muslim country with a "representative, transitional government" while awaiting recommendations from the United Nations (news - web sites).


Details of the U.N. position on elections will be announced next week, with a time frame for elections to select a permanent government, probably late this year or early in 2005.


The United Nations, which has backed the U.S. position that elections cannot be held before June 30, says it is ready to help Iraqis find a consensus on proposals that diplomats say include expanding the Iraqi Governing Council, a group of 25 Iraqis handpicked by the United States in July, or a national conference of leaders that would select a provisional government.


But McClellan said the United Nations had not assumed a presiding role over negotiations in Iraq.


"We have always said the United Nations had a vital role to play. We appreciated their efforts in assessing the feasibility of elections, and we will continue to discuss ways they can continue to be involved," he said.


Washington expects U.S. troops to remain in Iraq long after the transition, although the Bush administration has yet to come up with an agreement under which the soldiers would stay. There are currently about 115,000 American troops in the country.


Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the top Iraqi Shi'ite religious leader who was first to challenge the Bush caucus plan with a call for direct elections, said in an interview published on Friday that any interim government left behind by the Americans should have limited authority.


Diplomats have said the favored approach is to add about 75 members to the Governing Council and then have that group choose an interim government.


There had been no decision on who would choose the council's members so Iraqis would not consider them tainted by the occupation authorities, U.N. officials said.


The majority Shi'ites, who have been pressing for early direct elections, will make strong demands. Minority Sunnis, who watched their privileges disappear when Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) was toppled in April, fear being marginalized, and Kurds in the north are pushing for autonomy and want a federal state.