Religious leaders call for U-N to take lead role in Iraq

Religious leaders who opposed the war in Iraq say President Bush should let the United Nations take a lead role after the June 30th transition to Iraqi rule.

American, Canadian and European church leaders met with U-N Secretary General Kofi Annan as President Bush prepared for his address on Iraq later today.

The Reverend Robert Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, says they're encouraged at prospects for a U-N resolution endorsing the handover of power in Iraq.

The leader of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Bishop Mark Hansen, said "The United States has to be willing to abdicate that power, and the United Nations has to be willing to stand in the breach and assume some of that leadership."