Powell says U.S. forces would leave Iraq if Iraqi interim governments asks
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/05/14/national213\
5EDT0813.DTL

HARRY DUNPHY, Associated Press Writer
Friday, May 14, 2004


(05-14) 20:18 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --

U.S.-led coalition forces would leave Iraq if a new interim government should
ask them to, Secretary
of State Colin Powell said Friday, but such a request is unlikely.

Powell said the United States believes that a U.N. resolution passed last year
and Iraqi
administrative law provide necessary authority for coalition forces to remain
even beyond the
scheduled June 30 handover of government to Iraqis.

"We're there to support the Iraqi people and protect them and the new
government," Powell said at a
news conference with his counterparts from other Group of Eight nations
preparing for an economic
summit next month. "I have no doubt the new government will welcome our presence
and am losing no
sleep over whether they will ask us to stay."

But were the new government to say it could handle security, "then we would
leave," Powell said.

L. Paul Bremer, the top U.S. administrator in Iraq, told a delegation from
Iraq's Diyala province
Friday that American forces would not stay where they were unwelcome.

"If the provisional government asks us to leave, we will leave," Bremer said,
referring to an
interim Iraqi administration due to take power June 30. "I don't think that will
happen, but
obviously we don't stay in countries where we're not welcome."

Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman had told the House International Relations
Committee on
Thursday that although it was unlikely, the Iraqi interim government could tell
U.S. troops to
leave. But Lt. Gen. Walter Sharp, who was also at the hearing, contradicted his
statement, telling
the panel that only an elected government could order a U.S. withdrawal.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters Friday that the Iraqi
people still want help
from the United States and coalition forces to provide security.

"Iraqi security forces are not fully equipped and trained to provide for their
own security and
defend their country against terrorists," McClellan said. "And so, after the
transfer of sovereignty
on June 30, we expect to continue to partner with the Iraqi forces to improve
the security
situation."

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said at the news conference with Powell
that stability in Iraq
would not be served by an abrupt withdrawal.

"But were the government that takes over to ask us to leave, we would leave,"
Straw said. Britain is
the main force other than the United States in the U.S.-led military coalition
that brought down
Iraq's authoritarian government last year and is trying to restore calm in the
aftermath.

Powell said he expected the commander of coalition forces in Iraq to remain an
American and report
up his chain of command to maintain military effectiveness. Also, a consultative
process can be
established so the U.S. commander and the American ambassador kept the Iraqi
government informed of
their activities, he said.

French officials are urging that the new Iraqi government be given the power to
evict U.S. forces if
it so chooses.

"There has to be a complete break with the past, with the Iraqi government
replacing the coalition,"
said French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier.

He repeated that France would not now nor in the future send troops to Iraq but
said France would
join its European partners in helping to rebuild Iraq.

Powell said he and the foreign ministers devoted considerable time to discussing
Iraq "because all
of us share an interest in a peaceful, stable Iraq."

They also discussed the Arab-Israeli peace process and how to bring political
and economic reform to
a broader Middle East, he said.

That is expected to be on the agenda when the Group of Eight holds its annual
summit next month in
Sea Island, Ga.

Before their talks at the State Department, Powell and the ministers met briefly
at the White House
with President Bush.

McClellan said Bush and the ministers discussed the "mission they're working to
accomplish in Iraq
and about the importance of setting aside past differences."

Associated Press writer Pete Yost contributed to this report.