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L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. civilian chief in Iraq, spoke with TIME's Vivienne Walt in his office in the former Republican Palace:

TIME: To whom exactly are you handing over sovereignty?

BREMER: The spaces aren't filled in. We will hand over to a sovereign Iraq government on June 30. The shape and structure of that government isn't yet defined. When we get finished with the transitional administrative law, we will turn to a broad dialogue with Iraqi politicians, provincial governors, local councils, ministers — a variety of people — to try to figure out the best and most effective way to bring in the government. We don't know what that is yet.

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TIME: How are you going to avoid the sense that the interim government has been handpicked by the U.S.?

BREMER: Polling is an imprecise art in this country, but you can get trends, and the trend shows increasing trust in the Governing Council. [And] it's only going to run things for six months.

TIME: Are you concerned that there is no evident President, no Karzai or Mandela?

BREMER: It may well be that after January you'll see leaders emerge. They had a one-man band in Saddam. That's not what they need anymore.

TIME: Aren't you late getting to this process? You were promoting caucuses, but that's been abandoned.

BREMER: There was just plain opposition to caucuses. [The Iraqi representatives] agreed to this in November, and they changed their minds. So let's move on. We hope that the U.N. will play a bigger role and re-engage as they offered.

TIME: You have said you believe Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi is behind the recent violence. Are some of his foot soldiers Iraqis? What will it take to stop the killing?

BREMER: It appears that almost all the Zarqawi operations do not involve Iraqis. Al-Zarqawi [has said] that when democracy comes to Iraq, there will be no pretext for continuing the attacks. He also recognizes that there is very little support here for his terrorists. Therefore, his only way forward is to try to provoke a sectarian war between Shias and Sunnis.

TIME: You've been criticized for disbanding Iraq's army. In retrospect, do you consider that a mistake?

BREMER: I think it was the right decision. By the time the war ended, there was no army anymore to disband. To have left an army that had attacked every one of Iraq's neighbors, which was responsible for some of the most brutal repression of the Iraqi people, which was hated by many Iraqis and which in any case did not exist as an organized operation, we would have had to re-create the army — that is simply illogical.

TIME: Looking back on the year, should you have done anything differently?

BREMER: It's too early to tell. I feel like I'm in a fast-moving car on a slippery mountain road. I don't spend a lot of time looking in the rearview mirror. I'll let the historians worry about that.

TIME: What's your next job?

BREMER: It's called Rip van Winkle. I'm going to sleep for at least three months.

TIME: That sounds awfully boring after this.

BREMER: The way things go around here, a little boredom will be welcome.

TIME: What about the rumors that you're slated for a Cabinet position?

BREMER: I really am planning to retire this time. I think this will have worn me out sufficiently for the rest of my life.

• L. Paul Bremer; Vivienne Walt