Interim leader in Iraq may be named

US PRESIDENT George W Bush’s top foreign advisers summoned Iraq’s American administrator for White House talks focused on their growing frustrations with the Iraqi Governing Council and a logjam in transferring political power to Iraqis.

One option under consideration: naming a new interim Iraqi leader with authority to govern the country until a constitution can be written and elections held, a Bush administration official said. That would be patterned after the model of Afghanistan.

The urgency of the visit on Tuesday by American administrator L Paul Bremer was underscored when he abruptly cancelled a planned meeting in Baghdad with the visiting Polish prime minister before heading to Washington. At the White House, he met with Secretary of State Colin Powell, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and other top officials.