Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said Iraqi sovereignty would be "limited" by UN Security Council 1511 which authorizes a multinational force to provide security in Iraq until a constitutional government is established.

"Our forces will have the authority and the wherewithal to do what they need to do, to provide security, as they must, for Iraq," General Richard Myers told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

But Senator John Warner, the committee chairman, said he saw "a basic conflict of interest" between investing a transitional Iraqi government with sovereignty and giving US military commanders authority to decide on their own to take military action.

"I'm still worried that, say, there's a major insurrection that occurs in July and our military commanders have to decide to the extent that force must be applied," Warner said.

"We've seen recently in the Fallujah operations where there's been some honest differences of opinion between members of the Iraqi Governing Council, the current governing body, and our military commanders as to the timing, the quantum and otherwise the use of force," he said.

"But given military operations, you can't sit down and deliberate over an extensive period of time what to do. You've got to react very swiftly," he said.

Wolfowitz responded that the use of force in Iraq was a "political, not a legal" issue.

"The use of force in someone else's country (has) always got political ramifications and political controversy," he said.

He noted that such situations have arisen on numerous occasions in Afghanistan where the use of force has at times put the US military at odds with the government of President Hamid Karzai.

"And the answer there is you have got to be prepared to discuss, to negotiate, and also at the end of the day, to use the authority that is granted to us," Wolfowitz said.

The legal status of US forces in a foreign country are normally governed by a status of forces agreement negotiated between the United States and a host government.

But no government will be in place in Iraq until after sovereignty is restored on June 30, and an interim government has not yet been appointed by the United Nations.

Senator Carl Levin, the committee's ranking minority member, asked what would happen if a sovereign government sought to change the status of US forces.

"Those are our forces and we've got to make sure that they have the military authority to act," he said.

"And if we put in place a sovereign government, that means that they presumably would have sovereignty to decide what troops can do in their own country," he said.

Wolfowitz replied, "Actually, Senator, that sovereignty is limited by the U.N. Security Council resolution that arranges for the security issues, as I said to Senator Warner."

Marc Grossman, undersecretary of state for political affairs, said the administration would seek to reaffirm the military's authority through a new UN Security Council resolution.

But he, too, argued that Iraq's sovereignty after June 30 would be limited both by the existing UN Security Council Resolution 1511 and a transitional administration law crafted by the US-led coalition and the Iraqi Governing Council, a consultative body.

The transitional administration law puts Iraq security forces under the US military command.

WAR.WIRE