WASHINGTON — For the last two years, U.S. authorities have had firm control of the mission in Iraq. They have set rules for military operations and worked with Iraqi leaders blessed by Washington. But the arrival of an elected government this month will take the partnership in new directions that the Americans may find difficult to control.
The ambitious new Iraqi leaders have their own ideas and, with elections ahead, are sensitive to grass-roots pressure. And with the Americans increasingly reluctant to be seen running the country, the Iraqis have taken the initiative in the relationship.
No top Iraqi leader has pushed the Americans to leave the country or challenged basic terms of the relationship, including the status of U.S. forces in Iraq. But in the months ahead, as they write a constitution, Iraqis will start rethinking the fundamental ways in which they deal with the Americans, U.S. officials say.
"They're molding and shaping their government," said a Bush administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "So far, we're not hearing a lot of demands for change. But we know these questions are coming."
The most sensitive questions ahead are those concerning the U.S. military. When the new Iraqi administration takes over, the United States will be in the unusual position of providing an army for a country that another government controls.
U.S. military officials say there has been no indication that the transitional government wants to negotiate the basic accord -- called a status of forces agreement -- under which U.S. troops will operate. Some military officials predict that the Iraqis will be preoccupied with writing a new constitution and that the military treaty will be left for the permanent government. Under transitional law, the permanent leaders are to be elected no later than Dec. 15 and to assume office by Dec. 31.
Pentagon officials and U.S. commanders don't want such an agreement at this point, arguing that it could dangerously restrict them as they battle a lethal insurgency.
But without such a written pact, rules governing U.S. troops' activities will remain subject to informal agreements that Iraqi leaders can seek to change.
Iraqis could ask for new rules on the treatment of insurgents and tighter controls on foreign troops at checkpoints and on foreign security contractors, who now enjoy a status much like coalition troops in the way they carry and use weapons.
