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UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United States and its allies asked the U.N. Security Council on Friday to approve a resolution lifting sanctions on Iraq and giving the coalition control over the country's oil revenue a month after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime.
U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte officially introduced the eight-page resolution in a closed Security Council meeting.
The long-awaited U.S. plan for postwar Iraq envisions the United States and Britain running the country as "occupying powers" for at least a year and probably much longer.
It also would give the coalition control over Iraq's oil money to finance the country's reconstruction. The United Nations would have a limited, largely advisory role.
But Washington's vision is at odds with that of several council members, particularly Russia and France, which have proposed an alternate plan that would only suspend sanctions until a legitimate Iraqi government is established.
(Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
