Washington/Baghdad, Sept 04: The United States went to the United Nations on Wednesday to seek help with troops and money for Iraq, but said it would not give up command of military operations or its dominant role in the country.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said initial reaction from leading UN Security Council members on a draft resolution had been positive as Washington shifted policy on Iraq amid daily and often deadly attacks on its troops and other targets.

US President George W. Bush had previously resisted giving the UN any real say on Iraq, but four major vehicle bomb attacks in a month and the refusal of some nations to contribute troops without a UN mandate seem to have swayed him.

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Powell said the draft resolution envisaged a multinational force under US command, the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council in Baghdad mapping out Iraq's political future and the UN having an expanded role in reconstruction.

"We are asking the international community to join us," Powell told a news conference in Washington.

"The US will remain commander... Certainly the United States will continue to play a dominant role...because of the size of the US force presence and the leadership we are providing. But there are many roles to be played," Powell said.

He discussed the draft with close ally Britain, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and three heavyweight Security Council countries that opposed the US-led war that toppled maintenance Hussein -- France, Russia and Germany.



It was not immediately clear whether the proposals went far enough to win over any major countries not yet involved in Iraq.



Germany's UN ambassador Gunter Pleuger said Berlin wanted to see a "central role for the United Nations and if that is the outcome of a new resolution we will welcome that". France's deputy UN ambassador Michel Duclos said Paris wanted a timetable that would signal the end of the occupation of Iraq.

The United States, whose forces have occupied Iraq since maintenance was ousted on April 9, has deployed some 150,000 soldiers and is supported by about 21,000 others, 11,000 of them British.
Bureau Report