Iraq The Power Struggle: The Man With The Plan

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With the handover approaching, American commanders are trying to scale back the U.S.'s combat operations and force Iraqi troops to take over the job of maintaining security. As it did in Fallujah in April, the U.S. last week chose to deal instead of fight, this time accepting a truce with the Shi'ite militia loyal to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, 30. The U.S. Army's 1st Armored Division agreed to pull back from the holy city of Najaf in a deal pushed by Grand Ayatullah Ali Husaini Sistani, the most respected Shi'ite leader in the country.

Whether the truce can stick is critical for the Administration and the viability of the interim government. The U.S. has desperately tried to accommodate Ayatullah Sistani--the symbol of what senior Bush advisers see as the Shi'ite silent majority, a group they believe is impatient with the occupation but willing to support a sovereign government if it is seen as legitimate. Reducing the violence in the Sunni triangle and the south will, Administration officials hope, buttress their case that it's safe for the U.N. to throw its support behind the new government. A senior Administration official told TIME that the U.S. expects a Security Council resolution endorsing the interim government to pass "in the next couple weeks," despite concerns raised by Security Council member states--most notably China, France and Russia--about whether Iraqis will have any say over U.S. military operations after the June 30 handover.

Whether the U.S. can line up the international support it needs will depend on the diplomatic skills of Brahimi, who is due to return to New York City within days to brief the Security Council on the outlines of Iraq's new political structure. Given the Administration's original ambitions for remaking the Middle East in Iraq's image, Brahimi is an unlikely savior. Despite his talents as a diplomat, he is a symbol of the secular Arab status quo, and as a member of Algeria's governing council in 1992, he helped put down Islamic radicals who were starting to win elections. Throughout his 40-year diplomatic career, he has shown a preference for stability above all, which makes him a soothing figure for at least some of Iraq's very nervous neighbors. Says Prince Saud al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister: "The role of the U.N. and the confidence he can give to the people of Iraq ... will make or break the work he is doing."

Since returning to Iraq early this year, Brahimi has distanced himself from the Bush Administration. He criticized the Marines' siege of Fallujah and blasted Israeli policies toward the Palestinians. He sometimes has a hard time hiding his disdain for the world's only superpower, chiding the U.S. for having kept the international community on the sidelines in Iraq for so long. "The Americans call themselves the indispensable country," he told TIME. "And I suppose they are. But I have been calling the U.N. the indispensable organization for quite some time now ... We are doing what a lot of Iraqis have said they wanted the U.N. to do all along."