The United States has withheld any explicit support to an Iraqi opposition council whose members hope will form the core of any post-Saddam Hussein government.
Iraqi opposition factions agreed today, after three days of talks, to form a six-member leadership council that it hopes will form the core of a new government.
The White House and the State Department both said that it would be up to the people of Iraq to choose members of such a government, and that the US would not pick and choose among the various candidates.
"It is not the place of the United States to choose Iraq's next leader," White House spokesman Mr Ari Fleischer said. "Iraq's next leader would be chosen by the people of Iraq."
"The future of Iraq must be decided by people inside Iraq and outside Iraq. And the United States has made no specific selections," he said. "It will not be our place to do so."
At the State Department, spokesman Richard Boucher elaborated on Washington's stance. "Our position has been and remains that we do not support the creation of a provisional government or government-in-exile at this time," he said.
The Iraqi opposition groups have serious differences with Washington over its intention to install an interim military government and the possibility of Turkish troops moving into northern Iraq.
AFP