Putin "avoided commenting on American actions in Iraq," Gazeta

MOSCOW, September 26 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – As the Russian media said Friday, September 26, that the anti-Iraq-war camp between France, Germany and Russia is dead, in response to President Vladimir Putin's speech at the U.N. General Assembly, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Washington aims to have a new Iraqi constitution in place within six months and a new government some time next year.

Putin's address in New York Thursday, September 25, in which he pointedly refrained from direct criticism of the U.S.-led war on Iraq, "has shown that the troika of opponents to the war in Iraq is definitively in ruins," the liberal daily Gazeta wrote, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Putin "avoided commenting on American actions in Iraq," the paper noted, adding that his former allies in Berlin and Paris had failed to convince him to take a "more demanding stand."

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has also adopted a "more moderate tone and shown a warmer approach" in his talks with U.S. President George W. Bush, it said, noting that French President Jacques Chirac remains "the only intransigent party."

For the business daily Kommersant, the meetings in New York mark "important changes in U.S. relations with its main opponents over Iraq."

Moscow, the paper commented in an editorial, has always been at pains not to endanger its good relations with the United States, and Washington "has made it clear that the differences (over Iraq) are a thing of the past."

Henceforth "there is only France remaining in opposition to the United States," it said.

The other main business daily, Vedomosti, highlighted the very "diplomatic" stance taken by Putin, noting that he had backed "neither Bush nor Chirac" while at the same time avoiding giving offence to either.

Putin's U.N. address argued for a strong United Nations role in Iraq, in line with European demands, while steering clear of demands - voiced most strongly by France - that the U.S.-led occupation forces set a date for handing over power.

Powell's "Hopeful Remarks"

"We would like to put a deadline on them," Powell

Powell, whose country has drawn further fire from leading war opponents for failing to set a timetable for transferring power in Iraq, said Washington intended to set a six-month deadline for an Iraqi constitution with a view to elections in 2004, according to AFP Friday.

"We would like to put a deadline on them," Powell told the New York Times. "They've got six months. It'll be a difficult deadline to meet, but we've got to get them going."

He raised the possibility that the Iraqis themselves could soon set a timetable, adding that the U.S. government has asked Iraqi leaders to estimate how long it would take them to write a constitution and conduct elections.

Powell said the constitution would spell out whether Iraq should be governed by a presidential or parliamentary system and clear the way for elections and the installation of a new government in 2004.

Not until then, Powell stressed, would the United States transfer authority from the U.S.-led occupation to Iraq itself.

Powell's comments followed U.S. contacts this week with fellow U.N. Security Council members on a U.S.-sponsored draft resolution to muster international help, both financial and military, to stabilize and rebuild Iraq.

Powell said it was unlikely that the new U.N. resolution on Iraq sought by the United States would include the idea of a timetable, which is being negotiated.

However, it could include such general principles as the drafting of a constitution, elections and the installation of a new leadership, he said.

The United States would consult with Britain and other close allies to redraft the U.S. resolution, adding that a new draft would be "shopped" to council members. He expressed confidence the resolution would be approved.