By Rebecca Ford Mitchell
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Ambassador Paul Bremer, administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq, returned to Baghdad after meeting U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and members of the Iraq Governing Council on issues of Iraq reconstruction and the possible role of the U.N. in the transition to Iraqi sovereignty.

CPA Senior Advisor Daniel Senor said in a January 22 briefing in Baghdad that Bremer asked Annan to send a study team to Iraq to make a recommendation on holding direct elections by June. The deadline for the handover of sovereignty is June 30. Annan indicated that he would move quickly to make a decision on this request, Senor said.

"We've asked the U.N. to deploy a team and make a recommendation if direct elections are possible in the near future; if they are possible, how they think we should proceed; if they're not possible, what's the best alternative; and then, finally, to address the U.N.'s role going forward in Iraq," Senor said.

Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, who also participated in the briefing, said a search of a house in western Mosul led to the capture of Sima Fakhri Hamid al-Talir, the suspected facilitator of suicide bombers in that area. Two other men, believed responsible for a series of rocket-propelled grenade attacks on coalition forces, were captured during a raid near Abu Saida. Several large weapons caches were also recovered in various regions.

Kimmitt said that these and other raids were the combined work of coalition and Iraqi security forces. With over 150,00 trained Iraqi security forces now in place, there are more Iraqis than Americans securing the country, Senor said.

Kimmitt also confirmed that several Iraqi women who provided laundry service to the coalition forces were killed today when their civilian vans were ambushed near Fallujah.

"I think it really shows a certain amount of desperation, if not just cold-heartedness that -- these women that were working on an American base, simply providing laundry service -- that anti-coalition elements would have the audacity and the temerity to go attack women as they were going to work to provide for their families," Kimmitt said.

"Whether or not the terror attacks are achieving their aim, it is clear the old adage of ‘kill one, terrorize a thousand' is not working here," Kimmitt said, pointing to the recent bombing at Assassin's Gate. "Progress continued. People showed up for work the next day. The Iraqi Security Forces showed up. The police showed up in their police stations. The ICDC [Iraqi Civil Defense Corps] soldiers went out and patrolled the next day ... The terrorists will not succeed because the people of Iraq are not going to look back."

Senor announced that the new reconciliation initiative is under way with 150 Iraqi detainees being released to 89 guarantors -- community sponsors who accept responsibility for the conduct of the individuals being set free.