Concerns surface about Iraq timetable (Bremer needs to double CPA size) [View All]

[Barrett808]

Concerns surface about Iraq timetable
By WARREN P. STROBEL, JOSEPH L. GALLOWAY and JONATHAN S. LANDAY
Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - President Bush's top envoy in Iraq has told Washington that he wants as many as 1,000 additional personnel to beef up the U.S. occupation authority amid growing concern that the effort to return Iraqi sovereignty by next summer is falling far behind schedule.

The recent request by L. Paul Bremer, which is being fiercely debated by the president's aides, underscores growing alarm in some sectors of the government that Bush's exit strategy for Iraq is in trouble.

It's been plagued by a political stalemate among Iraqis over how to choose a new government, delays in assembling an Iraqi security force, shortfalls in communication and other problems.

Under the accelerated timetable agreed to last month by Bremer's Coalition Provisional Authority and Iraqi leaders, an interim Iraqi parliament is supposed to be in place by May 31. It is to select an interim government by June 30, formally ending the U.S. occupation.

"Clearly, CPA is behind schedule on the accelerated timeline for handing over to the Iraqis," said one senior official.

"Jerry Bremer has put us on standby, warning that he is going to need 1,000 additional people. We are waiting to hear precisely what he needs," the official said.

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