N-scientist could become first prime minister of Iraq

WASHINGTON -- An Iraqi Shiite nuclear scientist who broke with Saddam Hussein over the country's nuclear weapons program has emerged as a leading candidate to become the country's first prime minister when sovereignty is restored at the end of June, American and Iraqi officials said on Tuesday.

The officials said that Hussain al-Shahristani, a science adviser to the Iraqi government who spent years in Abu Ghraib prison for defying Saddam and objecting to the weapons program, was the kind of nonpolitical figure being sought by both the United Nations and the Bush administration.

The selection of Shahristani, if it becomes final, could also break a long and bitter impasse among Iraq's various ethnic and religious factions over who will be governing Iraq from June 30 to the time of Iraq's first elections, planned for early next year.

Administration officials say that until a caretaker government is formed, there can be no final negotiations on a U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at conferring legitimacy on the Iraqi government and on a multinational force led by American commanders.

In a separate development on Tuesday, a difference of perspectives emerged between the United States and Britain over exactly how much power the new government would have over its own security forces and over the multinational forces.

Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain said on Tuesday that Iraqi leaders would have an effective veto, not only over their own participation in military operations but over American operations aimed at insurgencies in places like Fallujah, a center of resistance activity. In saying so, Blair went farther in emphasizing Iraq's authority over military affairs than any American official had.

"If there's a political decision as to whether you go into a place like Fallujah in a particular way, that has got to be done with the consent of the Iraqi government," he said at a news conference in London. "That's what the transfer of sovereignty means."

But in Washington on Tuesday, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell declined to say there would be any veto by the Iraqis, emphasizing instead that there would be consultations before any military action.

"Obviously, we would take into account whatever they might say at a political or military level," Powell said. "And to make sure that that happens, we will be creating coordinating bodies, political coordinating bodies and military-to-military coordinating bodies so that there is transparency with respect to what we are doing."

Still, American and British officials insisted that there was not a material difference in the two positions. Iraqi objections would in most cases block a major military action by the United States, the officials said, but the United States under some circumstances -- like pursuing a known terrorist -- would override Iraqi objections.

"Instead of imagining vetoes or hypothetical conflicts," a British official said, "we should be looking at what the Iraqi defense minister is saying, which is that the decisions will be taken through consultation and partnership."

The search for a prime minister and other top aides in the caretaker government has been led by Lakhdar Brahimi, a U.N. special envoy, and Robert D. Blackwill, President Bush's envoy in Iraq.

A senior administration official said from Baghdad that no final decision had been made on the top jobs in the government but that Blackwill and Brahimi were closing in on their choices.

"We're down to a handful of names for each of the positions, and in some cases a smaller number than that," the official said.

Other people close to the process said that Shahristani had recently emerged as a compromise choice for prime minister among various groups, including the dominant Shiites and rival factions among the Kurds, Sunnis and others.

"Shahristani is a really good choice," said an Iraqi familiar with the selection process. "He was head of Iraq's nuclear program when Saddam gathered them all in a room and told them they were going to build a bomb. In that meeting, Shahristani said no, and he spent 10 years in Abu Ghraib."

He escaped into exile in London at the time of the Persian Gulf War in 1991, and from there led a relief group that assisted Iraqi refugees.

Another advantage of selecting Shahristani, according to various officials, is that he is considered a devout but moderate Shiite and is close to Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani, the most respected Shiite cleric in Iraq.

Brahimi and Blackwill are said to have been trying to make sure that the job of prime minister, the most important governing job in the new caretaker regime, is filled by a Shiite.

For the largely ceremonial post of president, Bush administration officials have said the United States favors Adnan Pachachi, a former foreign minister of Iraq. Pachachi is a Sunni who has little popular following but has won respect for his work in the American-picked Iraqi Governing Council.

There will be two vice presidents, also largely ceremonial posts, and a cabinet of up to 26 members that is expected to include both nonpolitical leaders and also representatives of various constituent groups.

The uncertainty and difficulties over setting up a caretaker government -- with only five weeks to go before self-rule is established -- has created confusion at the Security Council and even among some Iraqi leaders, who charge that the United States has not committed itself to full sovereignty at all.

The confusion over the precise nature of Iraqi control over Iraq's military and over the actions of foreign forces after June 30 has also pervaded the debate at the U.N. Security Council, where the United States and Britain submitted a draft resolution on the issue on Monday.

French, German, Russian and Chinese envoys are all demanding that Iraqi sovereignty be more explicitly laid out than what was outlined in the resolution, according to U.N. diplomats.

A European diplomat said the American-British draft needed to spell out the issues of authority over security and also Iraqi authority over oil revenues, finances and the running of ministries.

Also needing to be clarified, European and U.N. diplomats said, is the extent to which American military officers or contractors will be immune from prosecution by Iraqi courts.

A senior diplomat from a country on the U.N. Security Council complained recently that the United States needed to provide consistent signals about Iraqi sovereignty. As an example, he said Powell's recent statement that the United States would pull its forces out if asked after June 30 was at odds with Bush's statement that the United States would persevere and not allow itself to be driven from Iraq.

"It's a complete contradiction," the diplomat said.

Contributing: Patrick E. Tyler, Warren Hoge.

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