Prometheus 6   

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, responding to demands from France and others for a rapid timetable for self-rule in Iraq, said yesterday that the United States would set a deadline of six months for Iraqi leaders working under the American-led occupation to produce a new constitution for their country.

The constitution, which would spell out whether Iraq should be governed by a presidential or parliamentary system, would clear the way for elections and the installation of a new leadership next year, Mr. Powell said. Not until then, he added, would the United States transfer authority from the American-led occupation to Iraq itself.

"We would like to put a deadline on them," he said in an interview with editorial writers, editors and reporters for The Times, referring to the Iraqi task of writing a constitution. "They've got six months. It'll be a difficult deadline to meet, but we've got to get them going."

The idea of a fixed time schedule is unlikely to be incorporated into the resolution, which is being negotiated, Mr. Powell said. But he said the general principle of events like the writing of a constitution, elections and an installation of new leadership might well be in the resolution.

While rejecting the idea of an American-established timetable, Mr. Powell raised the possibility that the Iraqis themselves could set a timetable in the near future, and this itself could widen support for the resolution.