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France Demands UN Administer Post-War Iraq
edited (somewhat) for brevityA transatlantic row threatened to erupt over the future of Iraq last night when France demanded that the United Nations take over from Britain and America once the fighting ends. With ferocious battles taking place between American and Iraqi forces in the heart of Baghdad, Tony Blair and President George W Bush announced plans to give the UN a "vital role", rather than overall responsibility, for creating a new Iraq. President Bush and Tony Blair hold a joint news conference after their meeting at Hillsborough Castle. But hours after the summit at Hillsborough Castle outside Belfast, President Jacques Chirac insisted that rebuilding the country "is a matter for the United Nations and for it alone". Translation: "We want it, you can't have it, and we'll hold our breath until we turn blue and pass out if we don't get out way." I swear - Chirac sounds more and more and more like the petulant little child every time he opens his fat mouth. His comments appeared to dash the Prime Minister's declared hope that Europe and America could overcome their bitter "diplomatic wrangling" of recent months. The PM had better wake and smell the coffee - France does not have the US or the UK's best interests at heart anywhere. Chirac is in it for the money and to stop US and UK power. Period. In another worrying development for Mr Blair, Moscow announced an impromptu summit of Russia, France and Germany - the main countries opposed to the war - in St Petersburg at the weekend. With America and Britain still fighting a war and shedding blood to unseat Saddam, it is unlikely that Washington in particular will be willing to negotiate with countries derided by the American Right as the "Axis of Weasel". Mr Blair and Mr Bush yesterday agreed to give the UN an important but not decisive role as they drew up plans to create a broad-based interim government in Baghdad. "As the coalition proceeds with the reconstruction of Iraq, it will work with its allies, bilateral donors and with the United Nations and other international institutions," said their statement. "The United Nations has a vital role to play in the reconstruction of Iraq." The UN would not run Iraq, but it would help find Iraqis to serve on the interim authority and the Security Council would be asked formally to endorse the new post-Saddam administration. But Mr Blair's hope that this delicate compromise would be enough to overcome the row over the failure to secure a UN resolution authorising war was quickly dashed. "We are no longer in an era where one or two countries can control the fate of another country," the French president said. Unless that one country is France, of course. The plan for the post-Saddam era, modelled on the UN-backed process that led to the creation of a new Afghan government after the overthrow of the Taliban, was hailed by No 10 as a success for the "special relationship" between America and Britain. Mr Blair has been keen to marginalise Ahmad Chalabi, leader of the Iraqi National Congress who is favoured by many in the Pentagon, and prevent him being installed as the interim leader of Iraq. Mr Bush appeared to have acknowledged that others, including figures from within Saddam's regime, could have a legitimate claim to rule by agreeing that the new interim authority should be "broad-based and fully representative, with members from all of Iraq's ethnic groups, regions and diaspora". In an apparent overture to European opponents, Mr Bush said: "There is some scepticism in Europe about whether I mean what I say. Saddam Hussein clearly knows I mean what I say and the people of Iraq will soon know I mean what I say . . . Vital role for the UN means vital role." Translation: The UN had better know that Bush means what he means and keep their heads down, their mouths shut, and their hands out of our pockets. Posted by: FOTSGreg 2003-04-09 |
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