Iraq conference 'may be in July'
 |
Bremer: "We're ... continuing our active dialogue with Iraqi leaders."
Story Tools
SPECIAL REPORT
|
|
|
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- An Iraqi national conference to pick a new interim government may have to wait until July to convene, U.S. administrator Paul Bremer said Wednesday.
Bremer's predecessor, retired Army Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, had suggested he would like to create an interim authority by the end of May that would lay the groundwork for the election of new leaders.
In Baghdad on May 5, Garner told reporters: "By the middle of the month, you'll really see a beginning of a nucleus of an Iraqi government with an Iraqi face on it that is dealing with the coalition." (Full story)
But Bremer sees a different timeline.
"I don't think it'll be in June. I don't think it was ever scheduled for June. What we're doing is continuing our active dialogue with Iraqi leaders," Bremer said.
"But I would think that we're talking more like sometime in July for actually getting the national conference put together."
Late last month, prominent Iraqis from a broad spectrum of political, ethnic and religious groups met with U.S. officials and agreed to reconvene within a month to begin "to select a transitional Iraqi government."
The town hall-style event was led by Garner. (Full story)
Clerics from Iraq's Shiite majority took part, as did Sunni Muslims, who were favored under Saddam Hussein's regime. The Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution, an Iran-backed Shiite opposition group, sent a low-level delegation to the meeting.
Also in attendance were Kurds from northern Iraq, Arab tribal chiefs and Iraqi exiles -- some of whom had not been in the country for decades.
Bremer pledged to continue sessions with Iraqi leaders who might make up an interim government.
"I'll be meeting with two or three of them today. I've met basically every day since Friday. And we will have another broader meeting some time in the next week or 10 days and see where we go from there," he said.
