To express the sense of the Congress that arbitrary deadlines should not be set for the dissolution of the Coalition Provisional Authority or the transfer of its authority to an Iraqi governing authority.

SA 1805. Mr. GRAHAM of South Carolina submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 1689, making emergency supplemental appropriations for Iraq and Afghanistan security and reconstruction for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2004, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

On page 38, between lines 20 and 21, insert the following:

Sec. 2313. (a) Congress finds that--

(1) in a speech delivered to the United Nations on September 23, 2003, President George W. Bush appealed to the international community to take action to make the world a safer and better place;

(2) in that speech, President Bush emphasized the responsibility of the international community to help the people of Iraq rebuild their country into a free and democratic state;

(3) French President Jacques Chirac has proposed a plan for Iraqi self-rule within a period of months;

(4) for a plan for Iraq's future to be appropriate, the provisions of that plan must be consistent with the best interests of the Iraqi people;

(5) the plan proposed by President Chirac would impose premature self-government in Iraq that could threaten peace and stability in that country; and

(6) premature self-government could make the Iraqi state inherently weak and could serve as an invitation for terrorists to sabotage the accomplishments of the United States and United States allies in the region.

(b) It is the sense of Congress that--

(1) arbitrary deadlines should not be set for the dissolution of the Coalition Provisional Authority or the transfer of its authority to an Iraqi governing authority; and

(2) no such dissolution or transfer of authority should occur until the ratification of an Iraqi constitution and the establishment of an elected government in Iraq.