BAGHDAD -Two weeks ago, a man who had spent only the first two years of his life in Iraq came back to Baghdad with a plan for life after Baath.

Iraq should be ruled by a constitutional monarchy, says Sherif Ali bin Hussein - and he, as the chosen prince of the Hashemite royal family, should be the one to steer the country toward stability.

After 45 years of exile in Beirut and London, Sherif Ali has returned to Iraq as head of the Constitutional Monarchy Movement. Rather than offering to rule reluctantly, the investment banker is making a pitch to put himself on a throne that vanished nearly a half-century ago.

"The majority of Iraqis believe that it would be the best system for Iraq, because it would be a neutral umbrella," saysSherif Ali in an interview. "It would be an institution that would be apart from the rough and tumble."

Reinstalling an Iraqi monarchy deposed in a violent 1958 coup - the body of his cousin, King Faisal II, was dragged through the streets - is not an idea that Iraq's remodelers in Washington and London appear keen to support. But the movement could gather momentum - and might even complicate matters for L. Paul Bremer, the chief US civilian administrator in Iraq.

Sherif Ali is diplomatically critical of Mr. Bremer's approach to turning over power to an Iraqi administration. With the rise in violence against coalition troops, the US and British may be hard-pressed to ignore Sherif Ali's and others' calls to speed the political process. "I'd like him to be clearer about the timetable and the steps involved," says Sherif Ali, who wears a tailored gray suit, black dress shoes, and a tie despite the drowning heat.

The sherif - a title for members of the royal family - said when he arrived here that the US-led forces in Iraq should plan to stay for only a matter of months.

"What needs to be done is to say, 'We do have a program to rapidly move toward elections.' The problem people have is that it's open-ended," says Sherif Ali.

But Bremer and other coalition officials argue that Iraq is not yet ripe for elections. Bremer says in the next month he will appoint a political council, then convene a constitutional convention, and then bring its final draft to the Iraqi people in a referendum. Only then will elections be called.

Sherif Ali insists that most Iraqis would choose to be ruled once again by a monarchy to restore security and unite an Iraq splintered into a patchwork of ethnic and religious groups.

"What we propose is a government of technocrats. We don't need politicians to reestablish the electric supply," says Sherif Ali, sitting with some close aides - including an older brother - in a sprawling Baghdad mansion that serves as his headquarters. "We need a healing process," he says, "and if we had [a leader] from a single constituency, that would create tension, because how would we placate those who weren't part of that position?"

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