November 17, 2003	Monday	Ramazan 21, 1424

LONDON-BAGHDAD: President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair have agreed an exit strategy for pulling out of Iraq, officially ending the occupation next year while committing troops to the region until 2006.

In a move to head off growing criticism that the security situation in Iraq is spiralling out of control and that moves to greater political autonomy for the Iraqi people need to be accelerated, the two leaders will make the blueprint the centrepiece of their discussions during Bush’s state visit to Britain this week.

In a series of co-ordinated briefings from Washington, London and Baghdad, officials said the Iraqi Governing Council set up by the Americans would see its sovereignty transferred to a transitional government picked by delegates to a national conference. That body would then plan for national elections and the drawing up of a constitution for Iraq.

The moves come ahead of Bush’s three-day visit to Britain, which begins on Tuesday (tomorrow). Tens of thousands of protesters are likely to line the streets of London. The importance of the visit was underlined the other day when it was revealed that Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, the US National Security Adviser, and John Snow, the Treasury Secretary, will accompany the President.

British officials told The Observer that, although the occupation of Iraq would officially be over next year, it was likely that troops would need to stay, possibly until 2006. “The whole process will take two to three years, as in Afghanistan,” said a senior No 10 official closely involved in the Iraqi negotiations. “The first phase is the handing over of power to the transitional government, at which point the occupation ends. This is followed by an electoral process which includes a census and constitutional convention, and finally elections to a fully sovereign Iraqi government.”

It is the first time Downing Street has spoken of the end of the occupation and marks a significant shift in the ‘acceleration’ process of handing Iraq back to the Iraqis. Officials in Washington hope that by ending the increasingly unpopular notion of ‘occupation’ and giving the new government the power to run its own security affairs in a partnership with coalition forces, Iraqis can be persuaded that foreign troops are on their soil to help them.

The announcement follows a week of frantic negotiations in Washington, which saw the US pro-consul in Iraq, Ambassador Paul Bremer, called at short notice for meetings at the White House to discuss the change of policy, which had been demanded by the Governing Council, amid accusations that the coalition had failed to get a grip on the insurgency.

“We have always said we wanted to hand over power and sovereignty to the Iraqis as soon as possible,” said Jack Straw, the British Foreign Secretary, who had a series of meetings with Powell and Dick Cheney, the Vice-President, last week to thrash out the final deal.

Straw admitted that the security situation in Iraq had deteriorated and that it was time to look again at the way the military operation was being run.

“It has plainly got worse in the last six weeks,” he said. “What we now have to do is get on top of it. In the Sunni triangle area (around Baghdad) it has been more difficult than we thought it would be.

“First we have to recognize that is the case and upgrade the military response, and also understand that creating a better (political) climate is better for us and worse for terrorism.”

Announcing the new proposal on Saturday, the present rotating president of the Iraqi Governing Council, Jalal Talabani, said: “The new government will be in charge of negotiating with the occupying forces over how to regulate their presence in the country.”

Talabani made the announcement after he and fellow council members had a six-hour meeting with Bremer.

The decision reveals a reversal of Washington’s policy since America had originally hoped to have a constitution in place before moving towards national elections.

It also reflects the difficulties that the members of the governing council have had in drawing up a constitution, especially over the issue of the role of the clergy in a new democratic Iraq.

Talabani stressed during the press conference that the end of the US occupation would not necessarily mean the departure of all American troops.

He added: “As of now, we will begin a dialogue with occupation authorities on the security matters, but when the transitional government is set up all authorities will be transferred to this government.

“It will be an independent and sovereign government in charge of security in Iraq, internal security as well as the budget of Iraq and in control of all parts of Iraq.”

The announcement came as Iraqi insurgents continued with their attacks against the US forces in the country, killing a soldier in a roadside bombing in Baghdad, making him the 400th US soldier to die since the war began in March.—Dawn/The Observer News Service.