[...]We have a plan to support the establishment of this government of, by and for Iraqis. After months of consultations with Iraqis, we have taken the first step in establishing an interim administration. Today, the Governing Council of Iraq will meet. It represents all the strands from Iraq's complicated social structure — Shiites, Sunnis, Arabs, Kurds, men and women, Christians and Turkmens. The council will immediately exercise real political power, appointing interim ministers and working with the coalition on policy and budgets.

At the same time, the council will establish procedures to write Iraq's new constitution. Once it is ratified by the people, elections can be held and a sovereign Iraqi government will come into being. So the question of how long the coalition will stay in Iraq depends in part on how quickly the Iraqi people can write and approve a constitution.[...]