Washington, June 28: Stating that non-US troops will reach Iraq soon, Secretary of State Colin Powell has said that United States wants to see the "situation stabilised" in Iraq as quickly as possible. "I am pleased that a number of countries have expressed willingness to contribute troops, and we are now finalising arrangements for other nations' troops to arrive," Powell told national public radio yesterday.
"I think for months we are going to need a large presence of troops," he said.
Powell said everyone is speculating on years and months of foreign presence in Iraq. "But that is not helpful... we want to get the situation stabilised and secured as quickly as possible.”
"We want to put in place an Iraqi government, a government of Iraqi leaders selected by the Iraqi people, as quickly as we can," he added.
Powell said Paul Bremer, head of the provisional authority in Iraq, hopes to put in place by the middle of July a political committee of 25 to 30 Iraqi leaders that would begin to take over responsibility for the ministries, and at the same time create a constitutional committee that would draw up a constitution leading to elections.
Security, said Powell, is the first priority. But political development is also a priority, and perhaps even more important is economic development.
Through economic empowerment, people can start to see their economy reviving and there is hope for them to get jobs, to get an income and take advantage of the wealth of the country in an organised way, he added. Bureau Report