Interim Iraqi authority mooted

THE Bush administration is considering quickly installing an interim Iraqi authority in areas under the control of US-led forces while the government in Baghdad is cut off from the rest of the country, administration officials said yesterday.

Installing such an authority in southern Iraq that would include some prominent Iraqi exiles before President Saddam Hussein is toppled in Baghdad may help to blunt charges the US military intends to keep full control over Iraq for the foreseeable future.

"Certainly it's an option," an administration official said. "Increasingly the country is slipping away from (Saddam's) control, and that's only going to continue."