WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Colin Powell sought support Wednesday from Britain, France, Germany and Russia on a proposed U.N. resolution that would give the United Nations a larger role in Iraq's economic and political future.\nThe postwar operation is costing the United States about $3.9 billion a month, and has strained the American military, which has some 140,000 troops stationed there. The Bush administration has struggled to attract broader international participation, and sees the new U.N. resolution as the way to make other nations more comfortable with contributing militarily and financially.\nSome nations "felt like they needed additional authority from the U.N. to be able to participate," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.\n"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,'" McClellan said.\nHe made plain that the United States intends to retain political and military control in Iraq.\n"This is and continues to be something that is under the command of the United States military, working with our coalition," he said.\nU.S. civilian administrator for Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, and the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority are "overseeing our efforts in Iraq and they will continue to oversee our efforts in Iraq," McClellan said. "We want to encourage more countries to participate."\nSen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., warned that there must "be meaningful responsibility for each of these other countries."\n"They're not going to assign combat troops to this effort under the command of an American general and not have any further role in Iraq," said Hagel, a member of Foreign Relations and Intelligence committees and one of the leading advocates for greater international role in Iraq.\nHagel said the new resolution "would obviously indicate what additional responsibilities other nations would have, as well as the U.N. and Iraq."\nIt "would take away this perception, unfortunately, that is in the Middle East and around the world that this is an American mission in Iraq."\nHouse Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California called the effort toward a new resolution "a welcome admission that the current policy is not realistic and not sustainable."\nIn New York, U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte was beginning two days of talks on the outline of the proposed U.N. resolution, which marks a turning point in President Bush's willingness to share responsibility over Iraq's future.\nPowell spoke by telephone to British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, and Foreign Ministers Dominique de Villepin of France, Joschka Fischer of Germany and Igor Ivanov of Russia, as well as with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, a senior U.S. official said.\nThey were interested in the proposition, but more talks will be necessary before the United States submits a resolution to the U.N. Security Council, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.\nAfter Powell and Negroponte complete their soundings, the administration will make a final decision on the text of a resolution, hoping to submit it to the Security Council before Bush speaks in three weeks to the U.N. General Assembly.\nBush authorized Powell to begin the negotiations during a meeting Tuesday at the White House.\nIn Brussels, Belgium, meanwhile, the United States, the European Union, Japan, the World Bank and the United Nations are making plans for a donors conference in Spain next month to induce countries to contribute to the rebuilding effort.\nLast week, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said the Bush administration was open to the creation of a U.N.-endorsed multinational force in an attempt to persuade reluctant nations to send troops to boost security in Iraq.\nFive months after the United States was forced by lack of support to drop a U.N. resolution seeking authority to attack Iraq, administration officials say they do not want a repeat of that battle. They say they expect the United States to engage in quiet, behind-the-scenes negotiations on the text of the resolution, to ensure it would be agreeable to the veto-wielding permanent members and the rest of the Security Council, and to project a unanimous, internationally-backed stand on what happens next in Iraq.\nThe effort to secure international assistance is "a tacit admission that we don't have the forces there to get the job done," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Wednesday on ABC's "Good Morning America." "If we don't turn things around in the next few months we are facing a very serious long-term, problem."
Associated Press writers Barry Schweid and Edith M. Lederer contributed to this report.
