A government that can't pass laws, a nation that doesn't control its own armed forces. Many of Iraq's US-picked leaders wonder just how sovereign a state Washington will give them on June 30.

The US says that Iraq will indeed receive its sovereignty on that date, in the sense that the official US-led occupation will end. But no one disputes that the new government's authority will be limited.

"Let's separate sovereignty and let's separate out authority and let's keep this in context that this is an interim representative body that we are talking about," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Tuesday of the incoming government.

Iraqi leaders may have been willing to accept a sovereignty in name only several weeks ago. Earlier this year, many Shiites were saying the June 30 administration should only have limited powers until an elected government is created.

But violence that has bloodied and battered Iraq for the past three weeks, particularly in and around the cities of Fallujah and Najaf, has opened a divide. The US appears ready to cede less power - while Iraqi leaders have authority in their hands.

Mohsen Abdel-Hamid, a Sunni Arab on the US-appointed Governing Council, said the prospect of the US retaining some sovereignty is "Not acceptable, this is totally rejected."

If the Americans do not respect agreements on giving complete sovereignty, "Then the Iraqi people know what route to take," he said.

What does sovereignty mean for a nation? There are the tangible elements: control over its armed forces and the work of government; the power to legislate and to manage the economy; the power to decide who enters its territory. Then there are symbolic elements such as embassies and recognition in world bodies.

Iraq after June 30 looks like it will have much more of the latter than the former. US officials suggest that sovereignty will be full, but that Iraqis should accept limits on power that simply reflect the reality in Iraq.

With the insurgency still running strong, well over 100,000 US troops will remain on Iraqi soil, and the US ambassador-to-be, John Negroponte, said Tuesday that the military will have authority over Iraqi security forces. The US Embassy will manage billions of US dollars of reconstruction money in consultation with the Iraqis, a huge influence on the economy.

Iraqi ministries will keep the work of government running. But Negroponte also said the new administration may not be able to pass laws.

UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi - whom the US has looked to for help forming the post-June 30 administration - told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that a caretaker government made up of "honest, qualified" people should be selected by the end of May.

Brahimi spoke only of a complete transfer of sovereignty, not a limited transfer. And he said the relationship with the US military should be spelled out in "crystal clear understandings" before the handover takes place.

US occupation officials spoke in the past of drawing up a "Status of Forces" agreement that would define relations between the US military and the Iraqi security forces. It's not clear if that is now off the table, but there is little talk of it.

Negroponte instead said "lines of communication" and diplomacy would resolve disputes when the US military wants to go one way and Iraqi leaders want to go the other.

The bloodshed since the beginning of April has taught both sides sharply differing lessons.

For the Americans, it demonstrated that US-trained Iraqi security forces are in no shape to face Sunni insurgents. About half the Iraqi police and Civil Defense Forces either deserted or joined the insurgents. An Iraqi Army battalion refused to fight in Fallujah.

But for some Iraqi leaders, the violence showed the danger of the US military having too free a hand. The current council president, Kurdish leader and close US ally Massoud Barzani, suggested he wouldn't have launched the crackdowns in Fallujah and Najaf in the first place.

No one on the council is suggesting US forces leave. But they want their voice to be guaranteed.

"Iraqis should have a bigger role in security ... in taking financial decisions ... in running the Iraqi reconstruction fund," Ahmad Chalabi, a council member and close Pentagon ally, told the Arab television station Al-Arabiya.

But the result may disappoint Iraqis who concluded from past US promises that they would have sovereignty in the full sense of the word.

"I think the sovereignty will be weak and not complete," said council member Mahmoud Othman. "The less sovereignty there is, the less the possibility that the government will be able to work and achieve its tasks."

(Agencies via Xinhua)