Britain dismissed as "complete rubbish" today talk of a split in the Anglo-American alliance over how much power an imminent interim Iraqi government will have over foreign occupying troops.
British leader Mr Tony Blair said yesterday the Iraqis will have final control over foreign troops, but Secretary of State Colin Powell fired back that US forces will stay under US charge and do whatever necessary to protect themselves.
Faced with a barrage of morning headlines about divisions between London and Washington -- who have seldom openly disagreed on Iraq since last year's war -- UK Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said: "It's complete rubbish".
Mr Prescott said London and Washington's statements boiled down to two non-conflicting elements: Iraqis' having control over foreign troops after June 30, except when those troops were attacked.
"The Iraqi government ... will make all the proper decisions about the security and policies to be pursued in regard to terrorism ... Where there's a question of initiative to be taken in regard to counter-terrorism, that will be the proper sovereignty of the Iraqi government," he said.
"But under circumstances which can occur where a terrorist attack takes place and attacks a military force, whether it's the Americans or the British, clearly they will be expected to defend themselves. Nobody doubts that."
That line, however, appeared to fall somewhat short of Washington's more blanket position.
Meanwhile, UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, called in to help by Washington, is due to name a government shortly representing Iraq's potentially volatile mix of religious and ethnic communities.
In Iraq, people reacted with scepticism to Bush's promises on Monday of a peaceful and independent future, saying a US offer of sovereignty did not go far enough to restore their freedom.
"Bush is a scorpion. He is a liar. He is sneaky, making all kinds of promises when he just wants to control Iraq," said Ayman Haidar, a policeman manning a Baghdad traffic checkpoint.
On the military front, US officials said the Pentagon would replace Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez as the top US commander, but that the change was not triggered by a prisoner abuse scandal that has damaged the US image in the Arab world.
The draft UN resolution is an integral part of Bush's plan for Iraq, but he needs a minimum of nine votes on the 15-member Security Council and no veto by France, Russia and China. The other permanent veto-wielding members are Washington and London.
French President Jacques Chirac called Bush by telephone to say sovereignty must be real and perceived as such by Iraqis.
A burning issue is the presence of US-led forces after June 30, with some countries and many Iraqis saying it will undermine the interim government's independence. Bush says the troops are vital for security until Iraq can cope on its own.
France - which along with Russia and China opposed the war that toppled Saddam - and several other countries want an expiry date set for US-led forces in Iraq, but with a right to renew the deployment if Iraqis agreed, their envoys said.
The draft calls for a review in a year, meaning the mandate for the foreign military presence is open-ended unless the Security Council adopts another resolution for withdrawal.
Ali Allawi, defence minister in the Governing Council in Baghdad, said he hoped newly trained Iraqi forces could replace US-led forces within a year.
Bush, campaigning for re-election in November and fighting to reverse a slide to his lowest opinion poll ratings, said in a televised address US forces would stay and even be reinforced to stabilise Iraq in the run-up to elections due next January.
"As the Iraqi people move closer to governing themselves, the terrorists are likely to become more active and more brutal," said Bush, facing accusations by opponents that he has led the United States into a Vietnam-style quagmire.
Additional reporting