The president of Iraq's governing council says the country needs a provisional government as soon as possible and before a new constitution is drafted.

Jalal Talabani, who holds the rotating presidency, said the council will meet the UN-imposed deadline for creating a timetable for the transition of power in Iraq.

He said moving quickly toward a provisional government would counter terrorist claims that Iraqis are under occupation and that the Americans are ruling the country.

Talabani said he would like to see a provisional government ''tomorrow."

According to a report in The Washington Post, the White House, concerned about the governing council's progress, is considering changing the Council and the timing of Iraq's transition to self-governance.

The Post reports one option is to hold elections in four to six months to select a new body that would write a constitution and pick an executive to assume sovereign powers.

They also want Iraqis to take full control of the security situation, which has been deteriorating in recent weeks.

Paul Bremer, the top U.S. administrator in Baghdad, met with President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney Wednesday to present proposals to hand over more authority to the Iraqi Governing Council.

"We have said from the outset that we wanted to transfer authority to the Iraqis as quickly as they were able to assume it and that is what we have done," Bremer said.

"We have been moving forward on ways to continue to transfer authority to the Iraqis as they are ready for it," he said.

Bremer said he remained "confident and optimistic" about the outcome in Iraq, but that the U.S. "will face some difficult days."