US Secretary of State, Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said yesterday that while it is up to the Iraqi people to chose their own leaders, the international backers who have spent blood and money to end a dictatorship here have a right to expect that it will happen quickly.

Neither Rice nor Straw pointed to any specific accomplishment from a day and a half spent huddling with nearly all of Top of FormIraq?s squabbling factions.

They said in their message that Iraq must quickly form a government of national unity got through. ?We are entitled to say that whilst it is up to you, the Iraqis, to say who will fill these positions, someone must fill these positions and fill them quickly,? Straw told reporters at a news conference. ?There is no doubt the political vacuum that is here at the moment is not assisting the security situation,? Straw also added.

Rice said Iraq needed a strong leader who could help unify the wartorn country. But, she added, ?It?s not our job to say who that person ought to be.? Rice said the quick formation of a new government ?is something that the international community has a right to expect.?

Both Rice and Straw emphasized that it was up to the Iraqis to decide on their new prime minister. Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the nominee of the Shiite bloc, has been widely criticized by Sunni and Kurdish politicians whom the Shiites need as partners to govern.

?It is not my responsibility to determine who is going to be the prime minister of Iraq,? Rice said. ?That can only be determined by the Iraqis.? Straw and Rice both acknowledged that the Iraqis had made progress in building a democratic system after decades of Saddam Hussein?s tyranny, economic sanctions and conflict.