"The U.S. draft is moving toward principles but for them to be outlined in full, the document needs very serious work," Ivanov

MOSCOW, September 5 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – One day after the French and Germans said the U.S.-proposed U.N. resolution on a multinational force in Iraq did not fulfill conditions laid down by the U.N., Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Friday, September 5, that Washington's proposal for the new resolution needed a lot more work.

"The U.S. draft is moving toward principles (supported by Russia ) but for them to be outlined (in the resolution) in full, the document needs very serious work," Interfax news agency quoted Ivanov as saying from the Uzbek capital Tashkent .

"This initiative deserves attention because the draft resolution in part reflects principles that Russia had been repeatedly fighting for," Russia 's top diplomat added according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

France and Germany - nations that along with Russia bitterly opposed the U.S.-led unauthorized war on Iraq - have already expressed opposition to the new resolution.

The first consultations on the draft are expected to begin Friday.

The draft U.S. resolution obtained by AFP does not explicitly place the United States in charge of the force. But it says the United States would report to the Security Council on efforts undertaken by the international contingent.

The resolution also gives the United Nations a role in deciding a timetable for a "democratic" government to be established.

Russia , which has sought a central role for the United Nations in Iraq , has veto power on the world-governing body as permanent U.N. Security Council member.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had said earlier that Moscow saw nothing negative in an international force in Iraq under U.S. command.

And Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov hinted for the first time Thursday, September 4, that Russia may send peacekeepers to Iraq in response for Washington 's pleas for additional international help.

However, the Russian Foreign Minister Friday appeared to quash such suggestions by saying that Russia 's participation was "not realistically being examined."

For their part, the French and Germans said the U.S.-proposed U.N. resolution on a multinational force in Iraq did not fulfill conditions laid down by the United Nations.

Happy To Listen

"If they have suggestions, we'd be more than happy to listen to those suggestions," Powell

In Strasbourg , French and German defense ministers criticized the draft U.N. resolution shortly after President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder had said the U.S. proposal failed to go far enough in insuring a transfer of authority to an Iraqi government.

The draft resolution calls for a multinational security force - implicitly under U.S. command - and endorses the U.S.-installed Iraqi Governing Council, but that does not fulfill the conditions proposed by U.N. chief Kofi Annan to give more responsibility to the world body, German Defense Minister Peter Struck and his French counterpart Michele Alliot-Marie agreed.

"As long as the juridical situation has not changed, the German government has no plans to take part in a military intervention in Iraq ," Struck insisted.

After talks in the eastern city of Dresden with Schroeder, Chirac said: "Really, it appears some way from the principal goal which is the transfer of authority to an Iraqi government as soon as possible."

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell dismissed their objections, saying the resolution was drafted "in a way that deals with the concerns" Chirac and Schroeder raised in the past.

"If they have suggestions, we'd be more than happy to listen to those suggestions," Powell added after meeting with Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.

Powell said the U.S. plan to allow the Iraqis to set their own timetable for democratizing is preferable to what he called Franco-German moves to impose a timeframe from outside.

Meanwhile, en route to Baghdad , U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld underlined the need for more troops in war-ravaged Iraq , but maintained they would "not be American".

"Good Conversations"

This comes as U.S. President George W. Bush late Thursday denied a report that he was poised to seek an additional 60 billion to 70 billion dollars to finance U.S.-led occupation and reconstruction in Iraq .

"I have not yet decided on a number," Bush told CNBC in an exclusive interview, rejecting a Washington Post report citing congressional budget experts as saying that he would ask Congress for the new money.

That figure would be double what lawmakers were expecting and suggests to what degree the administration lowballed the costs of putting Iraq on course for prosperity and democracy, the daily cited the experts as saying.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters traveling with Bush to Missouri the president had "good conversations" Wednesday on the topic with leading lawmakers, but did not cite a specific figure.

Bush "let them know that we're continuing to assess what the exact needs are, but that we will make sure that the necessary resources are provided to secure the peace in Iraq ," said McClellan.

A Democratic Senate leadership aide said Bush's aides had requested "no specific figure" yet, and White House officials were informally talking about a range "between three (billion) and 65 billion dollars."

"It's not, right now, much more precise than that," said the aide, who requested anonymity.

The President has always said that U.S. forces will stay in Iraq "as long as it takes" to rebuild the country and hand it over to Iraqi control, and that he will seek however much money is necessary to accomplish that mission.

"The way I do business, the way I run the administration, is say to those who are responsible for the actions in the field 'what does it take to get the job done? How much money will it require?'" Bush told CNBC.