WASHINGTON, March 27 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the U.S. would allow the U.N. to play a very limited role in post-war Iraq, provoking a new row with anti-war France which insists that "the U.N. must be at the heart of the reconstruction and administration of Iraq."

"We didn’t take on this huge burden with our coalition partners not to be able to have a significant dominating control over how it unfolds in the future," Powell told a House subcommittee Wednesday, March 26, in reference to the U.S.-led military action against Iraq, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"We would not support ... essentially handing everything over to the U.N. for someone designated by the U.N. to suddenly become in charge of this whole operation," he added.

Powell underlined Washington would not agree to U.N. oversight of the transitional authority, to be led at first by a U.S. military commander, while acknowledging the "great utility" of a U.N. role.

"The center of gravity (would) remain with the coalition, but there is great utility in having the U.N. play a role," he said.

French counterpart Dominique de Villepin countered Thursday, March 27, that the world body "must steer the process….(and) be at the heart of the reconstruction and administration of Iraq."

Powell said that immediately after the fall of the ruling Iraqi regime, the U.S. military would take control of the Iraqi government, but that it would be soon joined by an interim authority made of up Iraqis.

"We will put in place what we are calling an Iraqi Interim Administration ... that will provide the nucleus of a new government and will begin to exert authority over various functions of the emerging Iraqi government.

"We will do this with full understanding of the international community and with the U.N. presence in the form of a U.N. special coordinator," he told the lawmakers.

Some members of the Security Council, notably Russia and France which vehemently oppose the war against Iraq, are concerned that any resolution creating such a position would in effect legitimize the war and have registered their opposition to the move.

U.S. Not Heeding Ceasefire Calls

Powell also told Al-Jazeera television Wednesday that the U.S. will not listen to calls for a ceasefire in its war on Iraq.

"It would merely delay the inevitable and give Saddam Hussein some chance to believe that he could avoid the serious consequences that he has caused to befall his regime," Powell claimed.

"We are interested in concluding this conflict, not having a pause right now or stopping right now, but concluding this as quickly as possible."

Powell said he remained in close contact with U.S. allies in the Arab world.

"I have conveyed to them what our strategy is: to conduct this war in as effective a way as we can, doing everything we can to minimize casualties, minimize damage to property," he alleged.

U.N. Must Be At Heart

"The U.N. must be at the heart of the reconstruction and administration of Iraq," said de Villepin

Staking out a position against Washington's views on rebuilding Iraq, de Villepin said the United Nations must oversee the reconstruction of Iraq.

"The legitimacy of our action depends on it," he told the prestigious London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS).

De Villepin still said France was ready to mend the rift with the United States that came about when it refused to back its unilateral war on Iraq without a U.N. mandate.

"These times of great changes call for a renewed close and trusting relationship with the United States. France is ready.

"Because they share common values, the United States and France will re-establish close co-operation in complete solidarity," De Villepin said.

The French minister reiterated French objections to the war, however, saying "our choices were not made against one country or another but in the name of a certain kind of collective responsibility and of a world vision."

"Because this is the mother of all crises, because it is fuelled by a deep sense of injustice, we can only have lasting peace if it is justice-based," he added.

The top diplomat said this could be accomplished "only . . . if the U.N. gives the impetus."

And he said Europe must continue to develop a "true European identity," with a "common foreign and security policy."

To this end, France, Britain and the U.S. "must overcome the current difficulties and remain united," De Villepin said.

"We must fully disarm Iraq. A unanimous international community rallied around this goal. It must now be carried through by the inspectors," he underlined.

"Establishing a standing group of U.N. inspectors would give flesh to our hopes," he said.