April 14, 2004
Iraq 'Caretaker' Plan Proposed
U.N. Envoy: Respected Figures Should Lead From Handover To Vote
-
Play CBS Video Video Fallujah Fighting
Allen Pizzey reports Iraqi negotiators are trying to extend a ceasefire in Fallujah, following a night firefight that left one U.S. Marine dead and six wounded.
-
Video Extended Stay In Iraq?
Kimberly Dozier has the Inside Story on how U.S. troops have reacted to the news that they may be asked to stay in Iraq longer. Some are disappointed, but also are determined to see the job through.
-
Video Iraq Kidnappings Spread A number of foreigners are missing in Iraq, thought to be kidnapped by insurgents, and two U.S. soldiers may be among them. CBS News Correspondent Kimberly Dozier reports.
-
-
U.S Marines from the 1st Battalion 5th Marine Regiment unload a large cache of weapons they found in Fallujah, including home made multiple rocket launchers. (AP)
-
Night vision image of a U.S. attack. (CBS/EARLY SHOW)
-
A U.S. Marine amphibious assault vehicle moves towards a battle in Fallujah. (AP)
-
-
Interactive Held Hostage Details on foreign workers and soldiers captured by insurgents in Iraq.
-
Photo Essay Violence In Iraq Anti-American violence intensifies in the heaviest fighting since Baghdad fell.
-
Interactive American Heroes Profiles of U.S. soldiers who've died in Iraq, a look at the war's toll and pictures of mourning.
Brahimi said he was "confident" that a government can be set up but said security in Iraq must "considerably improve" before elections happen, he said.
He spoke as April became the deadliest month for American forces since they set foot in Iraq.
U.S. warplanes and helicopter gunships firing heavy machine-guns, rockets and cannons hammered gunmen as a truce in besieged Fallujah was strained by increasingly intense battles.
Elsewhere, a 2,500-strong U.S. force massed on the outskirts of the Shiite holy Najaf for a showdown with a radical cleric, raising fears of a U.S. attack on the city that would outrage the nation's relatively pro-U.S. Shiite majority.
In other major developments:
Brahimi's proposals represented a stripped-down alternative to previous, more complicated systems for a new government, a subject that has caused sharp divisions among members of the Iraqi Governing Council and U.S. administrators.
The differences were so difficult to overcome that the United States and Iraqi leaders called in the United Nations to find a solution.
Past ideas had included expanding the 25-member Governing Council to make a body that could then create an interim government. But under the ideas outlined by Brahimi, the council would be disbanded once the June 30 target date is passed.
Brahimi said the caretaker government would be "led by a prime minister and comprising Iraqi men and women known for their honesty, integrity and competence. There will also be a president to act as head of state and two vice-presidents."
A "consultative assembly" should also be created, but not an interim legislature, said Brahimi.
"I am absolutely confident that most Iraqis want a simple solution for this interim period," he said. "You don't need a legislative body for this short period."
He called for a conference of "national dialogue" to be convened after the June 30 handover to create a "consultative assembly."
Brahimi said legislative elections set for Jan. 31 would be "the most important milestone." There is "no substitute for the legitimacy that elections provide for," he told a news conference.
The Marines called a halt to offensive operations on Friday to allow negotiations between U.S.-allied Iraqis and Fallujah representatives in an attempt to ease the violence. Gunmen in the city called a cease-fire Sunday. But Marines have been responding to guerrilla fire — and striking gunmen who appear about to attack.
A U.S. Cobra attack helicopter fired rockets and heavy machine-guns before dawn Wednesday at gunmen in the city, and A-130 gunships pounded a row of buildings from which Marines say ambushes have repeatedly been launched.
In the south, Iraqi politicians and ayatollahs tried to negotiate a solution to avert a U.S. attack on the city of Najaf, home to one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines.
A vehemently anti-U.S. cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, was holed up in his office in Najaf, shielded not only by gunmen but by the presence of the city's main shrine only yards away.
U.S. commanders vowed to kill or capture al-Sadr, though officials suggested they would give negotiations a chance. An envoy for the cleric said Muqtada al-Sadr has asked him to convey a set of proposals to U.S. officials, according to CBS News Reporter Lisa Barron.
©MMIV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Author Thomas Friedman on Obama's Afghanistan plan and the war on terror.
