Sunni leader named president of Iraq's interim government.(Chicago Tribune)

Byline: Liz Sly and Deborah Horan

BAGHDAD, Iraq _ After naming a president who was not the American choice, the Iraqi Governing Council on Tuesday swore in the new interim government that is scheduled to take power in less than a month from the U.S.-led coalition.

In a meeting punctuated by the roars and booms of explosions outside, the U.S.-appointed council then dissolved itself to make way for the new government that is scheduled to take control on June 30. Until then, the Coalition Provisional Authority led by Paul Bremer will remain responsible for running the violence-riddled nation.

In what many Iraqis saw as a defeat for the U.S., Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawar, a powerful tribal leader whose candidacy was opposed by the U.S. and the United Nations, was named the first president of Iraq after Saddam Hussein.

But the powers of the new government remain unclear. A new resolution offered by the United States and Britain on Tuesday at the U.N. Security Council calls for the removal of multinational forces by 2006 but left unresolved the question of whether the new Iraqi government can control the actions of the U.S.-led coalition military forces.

Violence in the country is only expected to increase as the handover date approaches. On Tuesday 14 Iraqis died in two car bombings, including one just outside the compound housing the U.S. administration. The blast apparently was aimed at the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan's party headquarters.

Several other blasts shook Baghdad as the U.S-appointed members of Iraq's Governing Council gathered at the heavily guarded compound known as the Green Zone for ceremonies announcing the formation of the first Iraqi government since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime.