WASHINGTON, (Saba) - As it weighs a major change in how to remove political power to Iraqis, Bush and his administration are relying ever more heavily on the United Nations to help clear the remaining high hurdles ahead.

Any U.N. help may be slow in coming though. It could take at least a week to 10 days more for Secretary-General Kofi Annan to formulate all of his recommendations, according to one U.S. official's estimate. That would be a crucial delay with a July 1 self-imposed American deadline looming for the handover of power in Iraq.
Annan was due to receive a firsthand report at the United Nations on Thursday from Lakhdar Brahimi, his special adviser who led a U.N. team to Iraq to assess prospects for a compromise approach to the political transition.