Posted on 07/21/2003 6:55:33 PM PDT by name
US set to plead for UN backing on Iraq troops
The Bush Administration is preparing to make a renewed plea to the United Nations to back an international force for Iraq as part of its urgent efforts to persuade more countries to send peacekeeping troops.
As American casualties from ambushes and sniper attacks rise, senior Administration officials are seeking help from countries that opposed the US-led intervention to oust Saddam Hussein.
"This isn't about humble pie," one US diplomat said. "But I think it's recognised that to do this properly we need help from our friends."
Two more US soldiers were killed yesterday in an ambush by guerillas firing guns and rocket-propelled grenades near the northern city of Mosul, a US military spokesman said.
Pentagon hawks are among those who have been reluctantly convinced of the need to involve countries that only weeks ago were seen as diplomatic foes.
Last week Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz surprised friends by saying privately: "We desperately need the French."
Last week the new head of the US Central Command, General John Abizaid, fed the growing clamour on Capitol Hill for a UN peacekeeping role by warning US troops that they should expect to stay in Iraq for at least a year.
At the same time a highly critical report by a Pentagon advisory team, sent to Iraq by Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, said the US faced "the potential for chaos" if it did not get a grip on security and reconstruction within three months.
After scouring the world for new recruits to the "coalition of the willing", US officials admit there is little prospect of easing the pressure on the mostly US and British troops in Iraq with-out a new Security Council resolution - even if that means giving up some political control.
The White House shift towards a wider role for the UN follows refusals by France and Germany to consider sending peacekeeping troops without a fresh UN resolution.
Last week India said it would send a division of 17,000 troops only under the auspices of the UN.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell has indicated a willingness to explore a new resolution.
The change in US attitude comes as UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on the occupying forces to set out a "clear timetable" for a staged withdrawal. He said numerous Iraqis had told UN officials that "democracy should not be imposed from the outside".
Mr Annan welcomed the formation of the 25-member Governing Council for Iraq, but said in a report to Security Council members at the weekend that "there is a pressing need to set out a clear and specific sequence of events leading to the end of the military occupation".
The issue of a new resolution was not raised in the report, but it concluded by noting that "the legitimacy and impartiality of the United Nations is a considerable asset in promoting the interests of the Iraqi people".
- An Iraqi driver for the UN was killed and a foreign UN staffer injured yesterday when their vehicle crashed into a bus after being hit by gunfire near Hilla, south of Baghdad, a UN spokesman said. It was the first time UN vehicles had been fired on since the war ended.
- Telegraph, New York Times, Reuters
As Mr. Coman is quoting the usual unnamed sources, don't bet your life on any "plea" to the UN.
So what's the deal, (if real), French get their lucrative oil contracts and US defense gets to keep shifting money from troops to Star Wars?
Yeah right. Wolfowitz followed that one by saying he desperately needed a spinal tap in order to shift his focus from the discomfort a hangnail was causing him
He's been here before, but has a weak grasp on the concept of "banned."
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