[AlaskaErik]

Jonathan Dimbleby: "But if the UN is kept on the sidelines there will be no legitimacy to whatever authority emerges because it requires the UN and the Security Council to authorise whatever emerges from the democratic process in which you are engaged?"

Ahmed Chalabi: "That is false. There is no requirement for the UN to sanction anything. The Iraqi people will decide…. And then the UN will accept whoever is representing the Iraqi people".

At least somebody has it right! The UN has no power or authority except that which we cede to them. And that should be zero. Telling the Iraqis that they need UN approval to be legitimate is like telling a Christian that they need papal authority to be legitimate.

[Diddley]

Let's hear it for Chalabi.