04 June 2004	Friday	15 Rabi-us-Saani 1425

WASHINGTON, June 3: US troops in violence-wracked Iraq will remain under US command after Iraq's interim government takes power on June 30, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said in television interviews released on Thursday.

"Clearly, the United States troops always remain under the command of United States officers and reporting through the Department of Defence to the president," Mr Powell told the Middle East Broadcasting Center, according to a transcript of the interview.

A new UN draft resolution on Iraq introduced this week by Britain and the United States "does not talk about a veto over any military operations," Powell said. But Iraqi forces will be under the command of "Iraqi generals and the Iraqi Ministry of Defence and the Iraqi prime minister and president," he said.

The United States is working with Iraq's new prime minister, Iyad Allawi, "to determine the proper relationship between the coalition forces that will remain and the new interim government," Mr Powell said. "But circumstances could arise where a situation is developing and our troops have to act in a way that protects them," he said.

"And, hopefully, it will always be with the agreement and understanding of the Iraqi interim government. There could be a situation where we have to act and there may be a disagreement, and we have to act to protect ourselves or to accomplish a mission."

In a transcript of an interview with French network France 3, Mr Powell said the United States was seeking with the interim government a similar arrangement that it had had with allies such as Germany and South Korea.

"It has full sovereignty," Mr Powell said of the interim government, "and it is inviting the coalition military forces to remain there with the consent of this sovereign government because they are not yet ready and able to provide for their own security." -AFP