Bush Plan to Let Iraqi Forces Opt Out of Operations Ordered by the US

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/20/politics/20DIPL.html

White House Considers Plan to Let Iraqi Forces Opt Out of Military Operations Ordered by the U.S.
By STEVEN R. WEISMAN

Published: May 20, 2004


ASHINGTON, May 19 — The Bush administration, responding to concerns at the United Nations about the limitations on Iraq's future sovereignty, is leaning toward a plan to allow Iraqi security forces to decline to take part in military operations ordered by American commanders, administration officials say.

Some administration officials say this so-called "opt out" arrangement will help win support at the Security Council for a resolution conferring legitimacy on the caretaker government to be installed in Iraq after June 30.

Amid rising violence and uncertainty there, France, Germany, Russia and other Security Council members are coming to an informal agreement that any resolution must make clear that the transfer of sovereignty is real and not cosmetic.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said Wednesday he expected that the their concerns could be accommodated by making some "necessary arrangements" to take Iraqi concerns into account, even though the United States would remain in overall command of forces in Iraq. The contrary situation — what Iraqi influence will exist over American operations — remains unclear.

The negotiations regarding Iraqi control over security forces have unfolding as American military commanders testified that Iraqi forces themselves are not going to be at full strength until next year at the earliest. This was a lengthier timetable than they had earlier predicted.<snip>