WASHINGTON, Aug 27: The United States may be willing to accept UN leadership of the international force in Iraq if a US general is in command, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said in remarks released on Wednesday.

The proposal is one of several being considered by diplomats at the United Nations as the United States attempts to enhance participation in the force by expanding the UN mandate for Iraqi stabilization and reconstruction, he said.

“One (idea) is a multinational force under UN leadership, but the American would be the UN commander,” Mr Armitage said in an interview with three regional US news syndicates on Tuesday.

“That’s one idea that’s being explored, and others just started talking about widening decision-making,” he said, according to a transcript released by the State Department on Wednesday.

Mr Armitage declined to offer any details about the proposal, which he made public as US plans for a new UN Security Council resolution on Iraq have met fierce resistance from the anti-war camp.

“(We) haven’t finished our deliberations on that; we’ve got a ways to go,” he said, adding: “I don’t think it helps to throw them (our ideas) out publicly right now.”

Washington has said repeatedly that it is unwilling to cede command and control of the US-led stabilization force now in Iraq, a stance that has drawn opposition from other members of the Security Council.

But Mr Armitage appeared to indicate a new flexibility on the issue, although he made clear that the force would remain under the command of an American.

He also said it was possible the United States might drop the idea for a new resolution if reaching a consensus proved too difficult.

“We’ve made no final decisions,” Armitage said.

The suggestion that Washington is open to considering UN leadership for the force emerged as Paul Bremer, the civilian US administrator for Iraq, said the cost of reconstruction would run into “several tens of billions of dollars.”

The enormous expense — coupled with the estimated four billion dollars a month being spent on the military occupation of Iraq, growing criticism of the operation and a rising death toll among US troops — has created a new urgency in recruiting more countries to join the effort.

Several key nations, including Pakistan, India, Turkey and Russia, have refused to participate without a more specific UN mandate, and others are reluctant to contribute to reconstruction for the same reason.

Mr Armitage said that one way to overcome that might be to give the United Nations complete control over civilian reconstruction while retaining US command of military operations.

“It’s one of the interesting ideas that has come out of the discussion we’ve had, and we are consulting closely with ambassador Bremer, and the administration is right now discussing the events,” he said. —AFP