"I think what you may see is as many as seven, eight, nine leaders working together to provide leadership," Garner

BAGHDAD , May 5 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Up to nine Iraqis representing different opposition factions are to run an interim government to help rebuild the war-scarred country in the coming months, U.S. civil administrator in Iraq Jay Garner said Monday, May 5.

"I think what you may see is as many as seven, eight, nine leaders working together to provide leadership," Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted Garner as telling reporters.

The retired lieutenant general referred to Massoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), Ahmad Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress (INC), Jalal Talabani of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), Iyad Allawi of the Iraqi National Accord, and Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, whose elder brother heads the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).

Garner said that group would likely be expanded to include a Christian and perhaps another Sunni figure, adding he did not know how the collective leadership would function specifically.

Speaking as he prepared to leave on a one-day visit of Iraq 's southern capital Basra , Garner said he expected the newly-appointed career diplomat Paul Bremer to arrive by next week and take charge of the political process within the post-war U.S. administration.

"He will get more involved in the political process. I'm doing all of it and don't want to do all of it. We really need a dedicated effort," on the political side, Garner said.

"The month of May is a key month for getting all the public services stood up or at least with a good prospect of being stood up and getting the law enforcement system back," Garner said, responding to the stringent criticism of the slow pace of rebuilding since Baghdad fell on April 9.

He voiced disappointment that the Americans had been unable to launch an extensive television and radio broadcast system for Iraq so far.

"We haven't done a good job," Garner admitted.

"I want TV going to the people ... with a soft demeanour, programs they want to see."

Garner noted that the self-proclaimed mayor of Baghdad , Mohammed Mohsen al-Zubaidi, who was arrested by U.S. forces, had been released after two days.

The condition for his release was that he don’t resume his activity of asserting authority in Baghdad , the general said. "I understand he was released after 48 hours," Garner said.

He was to visit a school, a hospital and an oil refinery as well as hold talks with a sheikh in Basra on Monday.

British Diplomats Back

Meanwhile, Britain re-established a diplomatic presence in Iraq on Monday, 12 years after it closed its Baghdad embassy shortly before the 1991 Gulf war.

Diplomat Christopher Segar is heading the British Office in Iraq, said a statement given to reporters on the premises of the embassy.

"We are not using the terms 'embassy' and 'ambassador' since there is no Iraq government yet for an ambassador to present credentials to," it said.

"I see this as a symbol of the commitment of our government to working with Iraq and the Iraqi people towards re-establishing connections and ties between our two countries, in, for example, culture, education, business and investment, which were so important in the past," Segar told reporters.