Shi'ite cleric agrees to an interim government

BAGHDAD -- After weeks of deadlock over Iraq's political transition, the country's leading Shi'ite Muslim cleric said yesterday that he would accept a non-elected government installed by US officials on June 30, on condition that it had a narrow mandate and a short life span.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said in a statement that a new Iraqi government could run the country if it had "a limited and clear mandate" and existed "for a few months only." The statement seemed to seal a deal that has been discreetly negotiated during weeks of visits by key members of the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, and seemed finally to break the logjam over the US transition plan.

Sistani also insisted on a firm date for elections for later this year "in order to assure the Iraqi people that this issue will not be delayed." That date would hopefully be written into a new United Nations resolution, he said. The demand immediately increases the pressure on US officials to clear the way for direct elections, and on the UN to begin the groundwork for a national vote.

The cleric is almost never seen in public and has declined to meet the top US administrator for Iraq, L. Paul Bremer III. But Sistani's views hold immense sway over Iraq's estimated 15 million Shi'ites, with the power to mobilize huge numbers of people to support him.

The statement, issued yesterday by Sistani's office in the holy city of Najaf, offered his tacit approval to the US decision to transfer power to Iraqis in four months.

In an interview earlier this week, Adnan Pachachi, a senior council member, said he thought Sistani would accept a rapid political transition, so long as a firm date was set for democratic elections.

"Obviously, Sistani would prefer early elections. So would we," Pachachi said.

"But to have bad elections would question the legitimacy of the government."

Another key member on the council, Mowafak al-Rubaie, told reporters yesterday that he supported Sistani's statement "in the smallest details."

But US officials still warn of the potential for major upheaval when the US-led occupation ends June 30.

The biggest fear among some US officials is that Iraq's Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims, and its large Kurdish minority, will engage in a violent scramble for power, fueled by pent-up demands after decades of dictatorship.

The plan to hold elections long after the transition -- agreed to last November -- was contentious from the start. Sistani, who holds no political office, feared that a temporary government might shelve plans for democracy for years.

Coalition officials fear that a rushed election could provoke mayhem. They have said repeatedly that a credible vote cannot be organized before 2005 because Iraq has had no credible elections in years and has no voter rolls.

Bremer said in a television interview last week that elections would be possible "somewhere between a year and 15 months," with the date possibly "sped up a little bit."

That left a wide gap with demands from Sistani for elections before the occupation ends June 30. That date was agreed in talks between US officials and the Governing Council and ratified in a UN resolution. Under the deal, a provisional government will rule a sovereign Iraq until late 2005, when elections are held.

The UN envoy to Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi, said Monday that an election could feasibly be organized this year, if preparations began immediately.

Prompted by that, the UN's acting special envoy to Iraq, Ross Mountain, arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday to assess whether the agency could return to Iraq. The UN evacuated from the country six months ago, after a suicide bombing destroyed its Baghdad headquarters and killed at least 23 people, including the UN's top diplomat in Iraq.

Mountain told reporters yesterday that UN officials were trying to weigh how to operate in Iraq, despite being likely targets for another attack. "We are aware of the dangers that are confronting us," he said at a news conference in Baghdad. "We are not simply waiting until those dangers abate."

Even if UN officials return to begin organizing elections in Iraq, divisive issues remain. US officials have yet to reach an agreement over the 100,000 American soldiers, whom they hope will remain in Iraq well beyond June 30. And the two major Kurdish parties are demanding that they retain strong autonomy in northern Iraq.

As Iraq's sovereignty draws near, attacks have increasingly been directed against Iraqi forces that are poised to take over the country's security once a new government is installed.

A bomb placed in a police vehicle yesterday killed an Iraqi policeman and wounded four other people in Baqubah, about 30 miles north of Baghdad.

"We found a plastic bag inside the car," Police Sergeant Othman Abdel Qadir told the Associated Press. "As soon as the lieutenant opened the door of the car, it exploded."

The US military commander in Iraq, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, told reporters in Baghdad yesterday that terrorist groups were intent on provoking a civil war between ethnic groups.

"We are very focused on that," he said. "We are engaged with all elements of society in making sure that they understand this country has to stay united as a single Iraq."

Sanchez said he thought an ethnic civil war was "possible" but "not likely."

When the American-led invasion of Iraq began last March, US officials thought the Shi'ites would be quickly won over by the occupation, having been suppressed for decades by the Sunni-dominated government of Saddam Hussein.

But Sistani's skepticism over the US plans has mounted over the months and filtered down to his followers. It has peaked in recent weeks as Bremer insisted he would not delay the transfer of power beyond June 30 to allow for early elections.

Sistani issued his statement yesterday as millions of Shi'ites are converging in the second-holiest city, Karbala, to celebrate their most important festival of the year.