US: The US yesterday circulated to the UN Security Council a draft resolution seeking military and financial support from member states - including France, Russia, Germany and other countries that opposed the war in Iraq - in return for a greater UN role in Iraq's economic and political future, writes Conor O'Clery North America Editor, New York
At a hastily-called news conference, the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, said the resolution envisaged multinational troops under a unified command with US commanders in charge.
"Certainly the United States will continue to play a dominant role, but a dominant role does not mean the only role."
The resolution will call on the US as the leader of the military coalition "to report on a regular basis to the United Nations since it is a United Nations-authorised multinational force".
Mr Powell said he had received a positive reaction from Security Council member countries to the ideas in the draft resolution, and hoped it would mean more allies sending troops to Iraq.
"We hope that with this additional demonstration of the will of the international community it will encourage more countries, or make it easier for some countries who are looking at the prospects now, to make such a contribution."
The draft resolution asks the 15-member Iraqi Governing Council to develop a timetable for elections and the drafting of a constitution. This could cause problems as it would imply full UN recognition of the US-established council.
After free elections, the Iraqis could assume sovereignty over their own country, Mr Powell said.
The US resolution also calls for an expanded UN role in overseeing free elections and reconstruction through agencies "that bring great skill and experience to the task of nation-building".
While diplomats do not expect a confrontation over the resolution as bitter as that over the failed US-UK-Spain war resolution in the spring, UN diplomats said there was no guarantee that it would achieve consensus.
There is likely to be broad agreement on the US retaining overall command as no other country would be willing to take its place, but the UN is not expected to accept continued US control of civilian operations.
Several countries have declined to send peace-keeping troops in the absence of a greater say for the UN in the political and economic reconstruction of Iraq.
US forces have come under daily attack in Iraq, and have been unable to prevent deadly car bombs in recent weeks.
Mr Powell said he would be calling on foreign ministers to rally support. He had already been in touch with the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, and Foreign Ministers Mr Igor Ivanov of Russia, Mr Joschka Fischer of Germany and Mr Dominique de Villepin of France, as well as UN Secretary General Mr Kofi Annan. "The initial reaction so far is positive."
A final text is expected to be submitted to the Security Council before September 23rd.
White House spokesman Mr Scott McClellan said that some nations, including India, "felt like they needed additional authority from the UN to able to participate, so we said, 'We want to listen to your concerns, we want to work with you and we want to look at ways to encourage broader international participation'."
The new UN initiative is "a tacit admission that we don't have the forces there to get the job done", Republican senator Mr John McCain said yesterday on ABC television. "If we don't turn things around in the next few months we are facing a very serious long-term problem."