Armitage says U.S. committed to plan for Iraqi sovereignty by 2004

In consultation with the Iraqi Governing Council, the United States has now laid out a very explicit timeline, or roadmap, that will lead to full Iraqi sovereignty by June 2004, Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage said in a television interview on The Newshour with Jim Lehrer on November 21.

"There's no question that the majority of Iraqi people see us as liberators," Armitage said. "However, if we overstay our welcome, we'll be seen as occupiers. We're trying to thread that needle just right."

Armitage explained that, under the timeline, the Iraqi people will develop a fundamental law by February 28, following selection of representatives of a governing council from each of Iraq's 18 provinces. The council, in turn, will pick the members of a transitional assembly that will appoint an executive branch consisting of a prime minister and heads of the various central government ministries by June 2004.