Bremer warns of more attacks, bombing kills U.S. soldier, two civilians

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The top U.S. administrator in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, warned Friday that attacks against coalition forces will likely escalate over the next few months as the occupation authority prepares for a transfer of sovereignty to a new Iraqi government.

The warning came after a roadside bomb hit a U.S. military convoy in Baghdad, killing one soldier, the military said. Two Iraqi civilians also died and 13 were injured, hospital workers said.

Also Friday, President Bush named longtime family troubleshooter, former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, to oversee the job of getting Iraq out from under its crushing $125 billion debt.

"Secretary Baker will report directly to me and will lead an effort to work with the world's governments at the highest levels, with international organizations and with the Iraqis in seeking the restructuring and reduction of Iraq's official debt," Bush said in a statement read by White House press secretary Scott McClellan.

As the president's personal envoy on the issue, Baker will tackle a major problem in the rebuilding of Iraq. Iraq's debt carries annual servicing charges of $7 billion to $8 billion.

"The regime of Saddam Hussein saddled the Iraqi people with the debt because they were more interested in building palaces and torture chambers and mass graves than helping the Iraqi people," McClellan said.

Bush said he made the appointment in response to a request by the Iraqi Governing Council.

On Saturday, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was scheduled to visit American troops in Iraq. He is on a tour of nations in Central Asia, the Middle East and Azerbaijan, Afghanistan and Georgia.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Bremer said former members of Saddam Hussein's intelligence agencies were now assuming an increasingly prominent role in the insurgency. He predicted an upsurge in attacks in coming months.

"In the immediate phase ahead of us between now and the end of June we will actually see an increase in attacks, because the people who are against us now realize that there's huge momentum behind both the economic and political reconstruction of this country," Bremer told the AP.

According to a Nov. 15 agreement between the U.S.-led coalition and Iraq's Governing Council, caucuses will be held across Iraq to elect delegates who will convene by the end of May. One month later, the delegates will elect a transitional government with full sovereign powers, formally ending the U.S.-led occupation.