JURIST - Paper Chase: US to consider changes to Iraq transition plan

From the anchor desk... Responding to objections raised by leading Iraqi Shi'ite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the US may consider changes to its plans to conduct regional caucuses as a means of transferring control of Iraq to a transitional Iraqi government. The influential cleric has argued for immediate direct elections in Iraq, which presumably would prove advantageous to the country's Shi'ite majority. The Bush administration, which plans to transfer governing control to the transitional government on July 1, has insisted that direct elections prior to 2005 would be untenable. On Friday, US Iraq administrator Paul Bremer will travel with members of Iraq's governing council to meet with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, seeking UN support for the US position. ABC News has more.