KERRY O'BRIEN: In America, President [George W] Bush is facing growing pressure to bring troops home and stop the loss of American lives.But an early withdrawal or a badly managed handover of power could spell disaster for Iraq and a major political fallout for the President.Washington correspondent Jill Colgan.
JILL COLGAN: An American Indian ritual to mourn the dead as the families of soldiers killed or injured in Iraq join anti-war protesters.
FEMALE MOURNER: Creative God we just thank you for this day.We thank you for all the people that have given their lives for us.
JILL COLGAN: This rally is one of a series of protests marking the anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq.Their march is taking them to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where the coffins of US soldiers are brought home but hidden from view.
MOTHER OF US SOLDIER #1: I'm here to honour my son, Kelley Stephen Prewitt.He was 24.His convoy was attacked or ambushed and he was killed.
MOTHER OF US SOLDIER #2: My son was killed last month.He was killed on February 3 or 4 for a useless, senseless, destructive war.
JILL COLGAN: More than 560 Americans have now died in Iraq.Now the families of those killed have found their voices and are calling loudly for the troops to come home.But President Bush cannot bring their sons and daughters home.The US has committed itself to a battle it must win, the stakes for this President are too high for any other outcome.
ANTHONY CORDESMAN, CENTRE FOR STRATEGIC & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: Today, unfortunately, the nation building in Iraq is a noble experiment, whether it works or fails, is still an issue.
JILL COLGAN: The US presidential envoy in Iraq, Paul Bremer, has the task of preparing to hand over sovereignty to Iraqis by June 30.
DR REUEL MARC GERECHT, FORMER CIA MIDDLE EAST SPECIALIST: Well I think Mr Bremer wanted to make it a much later date.I think the entire American plan in all sections, I mean, if the State Department had had its way, had their blueprint, I think you would have also seen a day for transfer much, much later down the road.
JILL COLGAN: Influential Shiite Cleric Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Sistani has led the push to meet the June deadline.But Iraq does not have the government structures in place to cope with assuming responsibility for itself.
ANTHONY CORDESMAN: Are they ready to do that?No, they're not even close to being ready and in each ministry different procedures have to be evolved and each minister so far is doing it differently without having a new government in place.
JILL COLGAN: It's still unclear what role the US will play after June 30, though the coalition Provisional Authority headed by Ambassador Bremer will no longer exist.
ANTHONY CORDESMAN: A massive new embassy, thousands of people, almost all of them will be new people with no practical experience.And to say that we're ready to deal with the Iraqi government is as unrealistic as to say that the Iraqi government is ready to deal with us.
JILL COLGAN: Neither is the role of the US military clear.
GENERAL RICHARD MYERS, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: They will want us to be there to continue to help them, now in the process as we get towards June and beyond.As much of the responsibility as we can turn over to the Iraqis we will do.
DR REUEL MARC GERECHT: They really do want the Iraqis to have more control.They would rather have the Iraqis making all these hard decisions.
JILL COLGAN: But the US will no longer have carte blanche military powers.Its troops will continue patrols and training Iraq's new security forces and it will maintain its rapid response units.But the US may have to ask permission from the Iraqi Governing Council to take pre-emptive strikes against targets in Iraq.
ANTHONY CORDESMAN: A transfer of sovereignty is a transfer of sovereignty.You've had the US commander in Iraq saying that he believes the Iraqis are going to ask us to stay, that they're going to cooperate with us and they understand what is necessary to do the security job.He's also said that if they ask us to leave we have no choice.
JILL COLGAN: It's likely Americans will see at least two more years of their soldiers heading off to a battleground a long way from home.An issue that's already shaping up as a central platform in the battle on US soil for the American presidency later this year.
SENATOR JOHN KERRY, US PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're still bogged down in Iraq.What we have seen is a steady loss of lives and mounting cost in dollars to the American taxpayer, with no end in sight.
ANTI-WAR PROTESTER #1: You are using our wounded and killed soldiers, for your own leftist political promises.JILL COLGAN: In Washington, anger at the anti-war protests bubbled over at a rally outside a military hospital where wounded soldiers are convalescing.
PRO-WAR DEMONSTRATOR: You say someone else should be ashamed.Are you going to demonstrate at a cemetery next?
ANTI-WAR PROTESTER #2: Yes because people have been killed for what?
JILL COLGAN: Many Americans are deeply uncomfortable with public demonstrations against the war, viewing them as unpatriotic, an insult to the troops still serving.But one protester who says he's a former marine who served in Iraq last year, claims many soldiers simply want to come home.
FORMER MARINE: They fought for something that they didn't believe in.You say you know the troops.I was there, I talked to the troops.These are my friends and people who fought next to me that are in there right now.They're sitting convalescing in that hospital.Some of them are missing limbs for a war they didn't support or believe in.
JILL COLGAN: The Bush Administration will walk a difficult path on its retreat from Iraq.It will begin that process on June 30, but it will be forced to placate public opinion at home while ensuring it leaves Iraq capable of sustaining the democracy promised by the US.
JILL COLGAN: An American Indian ritual to mourn the dead as the families of soldiers killed or injured in Iraq join anti-war protesters.
FEMALE MOURNER: Creative God we just thank you for this day.We thank you for all the people that have given their lives for us.
JILL COLGAN: This rally is one of a series of protests marking the anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq.Their march is taking them to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where the coffins of US soldiers are brought home but hidden from view.
MOTHER OF US SOLDIER #1: I'm here to honour my son, Kelley Stephen Prewitt.He was 24.His convoy was attacked or ambushed and he was killed.
MOTHER OF US SOLDIER #2: My son was killed last month.He was killed on February 3 or 4 for a useless, senseless, destructive war.
JILL COLGAN: More than 560 Americans have now died in Iraq.Now the families of those killed have found their voices and are calling loudly for the troops to come home.But President Bush cannot bring their sons and daughters home.The US has committed itself to a battle it must win, the stakes for this President are too high for any other outcome.
ANTHONY CORDESMAN, CENTRE FOR STRATEGIC & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: Today, unfortunately, the nation building in Iraq is a noble experiment, whether it works or fails, is still an issue.
JILL COLGAN: The US presidential envoy in Iraq, Paul Bremer, has the task of preparing to hand over sovereignty to Iraqis by June 30.
DR REUEL MARC GERECHT, FORMER CIA MIDDLE EAST SPECIALIST: Well I think Mr Bremer wanted to make it a much later date.I think the entire American plan in all sections, I mean, if the State Department had had its way, had their blueprint, I think you would have also seen a day for transfer much, much later down the road.
JILL COLGAN: Influential Shiite Cleric Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Sistani has led the push to meet the June deadline.But Iraq does not have the government structures in place to cope with assuming responsibility for itself.
ANTHONY CORDESMAN: Are they ready to do that?No, they're not even close to being ready and in each ministry different procedures have to be evolved and each minister so far is doing it differently without having a new government in place.
JILL COLGAN: It's still unclear what role the US will play after June 30, though the coalition Provisional Authority headed by Ambassador Bremer will no longer exist.
ANTHONY CORDESMAN: A massive new embassy, thousands of people, almost all of them will be new people with no practical experience.And to say that we're ready to deal with the Iraqi government is as unrealistic as to say that the Iraqi government is ready to deal with us.
JILL COLGAN: Neither is the role of the US military clear.
GENERAL RICHARD MYERS, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: They will want us to be there to continue to help them, now in the process as we get towards June and beyond.As much of the responsibility as we can turn over to the Iraqis we will do.
DR REUEL MARC GERECHT: They really do want the Iraqis to have more control.They would rather have the Iraqis making all these hard decisions.
JILL COLGAN: But the US will no longer have carte blanche military powers.Its troops will continue patrols and training Iraq's new security forces and it will maintain its rapid response units.But the US may have to ask permission from the Iraqi Governing Council to take pre-emptive strikes against targets in Iraq.
ANTHONY CORDESMAN: A transfer of sovereignty is a transfer of sovereignty.You've had the US commander in Iraq saying that he believes the Iraqis are going to ask us to stay, that they're going to cooperate with us and they understand what is necessary to do the security job.He's also said that if they ask us to leave we have no choice.
JILL COLGAN: It's likely Americans will see at least two more years of their soldiers heading off to a battleground a long way from home.An issue that's already shaping up as a central platform in the battle on US soil for the American presidency later this year.
SENATOR JOHN KERRY, US PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're still bogged down in Iraq.What we have seen is a steady loss of lives and mounting cost in dollars to the American taxpayer, with no end in sight.
ANTI-WAR PROTESTER #1: You are using our wounded and killed soldiers, for your own leftist political promises.JILL COLGAN: In Washington, anger at the anti-war protests bubbled over at a rally outside a military hospital where wounded soldiers are convalescing.
PRO-WAR DEMONSTRATOR: You say someone else should be ashamed.Are you going to demonstrate at a cemetery next?
ANTI-WAR PROTESTER #2: Yes because people have been killed for what?
JILL COLGAN: Many Americans are deeply uncomfortable with public demonstrations against the war, viewing them as unpatriotic, an insult to the troops still serving.But one protester who says he's a former marine who served in Iraq last year, claims many soldiers simply want to come home.
FORMER MARINE: They fought for something that they didn't believe in.You say you know the troops.I was there, I talked to the troops.These are my friends and people who fought next to me that are in there right now.They're sitting convalescing in that hospital.Some of them are missing limbs for a war they didn't support or believe in.
JILL COLGAN: The Bush Administration will walk a difficult path on its retreat from Iraq.It will begin that process on June 30, but it will be forced to placate public opinion at home while ensuring it leaves Iraq capable of sustaining the democracy promised by the US.