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.

An administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity yesterday, said Mr Bush and Mr Bremer were to meet with the National Security Council, and then the pair was to meet separately with Mr Rumsfeld.

With a re-election battle ahead,

Mr Bush faces a rising casualty toll in Iraq and criticism that he lacks a strategy for postwar Iraq. Senator John McCain, R-Ariz, said more US troops were needed in Iraq. He said the situation there was deteriorating and “we need more boots on the ground”.

“This situation has got to be reversed ... if this trend continues we are in serious difficulty,” he said.

US officials have had growing concerns about the performance of the governing council, a senior administration official said, particularly the lack of progress toward a December 15 deadline to set a timetable for writing a new constitution and holding democratic elections.

Mr Bremer has expressed frustration to members of Congress that council officials are not working hard enough.

One idea being considered is the creation of an interim Iraqi leader with authority to govern until a new constitution is in place and elections are held, the senior administration official said, on condition of anonymity.

No decisions were made on Tuesday, several Bush administration officials said.

The talks also focused on security issues, said another Bush administration official. Some critics have proposed the recall of Iraq’s army, disbanded shortly after the war. Pentagon officials and Mr Bremer’s aides have called that unworkable.