WASHINGTON, Sept 5: The United States is willing to adjust its proposed new UN resolution on Iraq to address the concerns of countries like France and Germany but will not budge on its basic principles, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Friday.

Powell said Washington would not back down on the draft resolution’s two key points: the authorization of a US-led multinational force for Iraq and a call for Iraqis to present their own timetable for a return to self-rule.

“Our only goal (is) to allow the Iraqi people to regain sovereignty, but sovereignty based on democracy, sovereignty based on freedom, sovereignty based on peaceful existence with one’s neighbours,” he said.

“This has been the president’s goal from the very beginning, and this new resolution will move us further along toward that goal,” Powell said in a speech to students at the George Washington University.

The US proposal has met resistance from UN Security Council members France and Germany whose leaders have said it does not move fast enough to restore Iraqi self-governance and are wary of any move to “legitimize” the war they vehemently opposed.

Powell said Washington was willing to listen to Paris and Berlin but could not guarantee that they would be satisfied with the final result.

“There are some of my Security Council colleagues who would like to move faster, some who say: ‘Be a little more careful’,” he said.

“We will listen to all of the comments that will be coming in, and we will try to adjust and adapt to those comments as long as it is consistent with what I have just described as our overall goal,” Powell said.

Shortly after the speech, Powell told reporters that he was pleased that despite their concerns, the French and Germans had signalled their willingness to discuss the new resolution.

“I’m pleased that both Germany and France, even though they have some reservations, say they want to enter into a positive discussion with us,” he said.

Neither Powell nor State Department spokesman Richard Boucher would say what adjustments would be acceptable.

“We’ll see what they propose,” Boucher said. “We’ll see what is doable.”—AFP