The State Dept. Wins One

In the latest twist to the ongoing struggle over who will run Iraq, President George W. Bush plans to announce that L. Paul Bremer, a career State Department official and counterterrorism and security expert, will become civilian administrator of the country, officials said.

Bremer, the ambassador-at-large for counterterrorism in the Reagan administration, will have authority over retired Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, the current coordinator in charge of humanitarian issues and reconstructing Iraq's infrastructure, as well as Zalmay Khalilzad, a National Security Council official who is overseeing efforts to create an Iraqi government, a senior administration official said.

A spokesman in Bremer's office in Washington, where he serves chairman and CEO of Marsh Crisis Consulting company, said he was unavailable for comment and could not "confirm or deny" that he would be appointed. The announcement is expected as early as this week.

The appointment of a career diplomat and security expert to the new post comes as U.S. officials grapple with a messy peacekeeping and stability problem in occupied Iraq. On Tuesday, U.S. soldiers fired on a crowd of protesters in the town of Fallujah, killing 13. There have also been recent drive-by shootings elsewhere and firefights in the northern town of Mosul.

Bremer's imminent appointment counts as a win for Secretary of State Colin Powell in the behind-the-scenes battle over who will control the future of Iraq. Powell's State Department has been fighting with the Defense Department under Donald Rumsfeld over how Iraq will be governed and how long the U.S. presence will last. Rumsfeld took a victory lap in Iraq on Wednesday, visiting cheering troops and touting what "may have been the fastest march on a capital in modern military history."

As Iraqis scramble for an inside track in a new interim administration, senior Pentagon hawks have championed the candidacy of an Iraqi exile, Ahmad Chalabi, the head of the Iraqi National Congress, and a swift transition to Iraqi self-government. State Department officials tend to dismiss Chalabi as an interloper who lacks legitimacy, and they are pushing for a more drawn-out, inclusive process, including a Baghdad conference to take place in some months. Garner, who currently has effective control over Iraq, is a friend of Rumsfeld's.

On Tuesday, Powell told the Senate Foreign Relations committee that while State has "solid representation" on Garner's team, authority in Iraq might be removed from the Pentagon. "The State Department will begin to play a more significant role," Powell said. The appointment of a civilian administrator over Garner had long been expected, but it was unclear whether it would be a Pentagon or State Department candidate.

Some allies of Powell in Washington cheered the designation of Bremer, saying he will provide a counterforce to neoconservative ideologues at the Pentagon and White House. "It's a very good idea, you need a senior diplomatic person there," said one U.S. official. "That was the missing piece. He's very much in the Kissinger-Baker mode, very much a realist about it," referring to former secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and James Baker.

During a 23-year State Department career, Bremer served as special assistant or executive assistant to six Secretaries of State. In 1999, Bremer was appointed chairman of the National Commission on Terrorism by House Speaker Denny Hastert. The Commission reviewed America's counter-terrorism policies and reported its recommendations to the President of the United States and to the Speaker in June, 2000.