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Iraq-U.N. Deal Expected to Be Accepted
The United States appeared to win important French and German approval Monday for a resolution on Iraq that will confer legitimacy on the interim government taking over from the U.S.-led occupation. U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said he expects the Security Council to approve the U.S.-British resolution on Tuesday afternoon, and council diplomats said the vote could be unanimous. "We think this is an excellent resolution," Negroponte said. It marks "the fact that Iraq is entering into a new political phase, one where it is reasserting its full sovereignty." The draft resolution - revised four times over the past two weeks - also marks an end to the occupation and partly defines the relationship between the new government and the U.S.-led multinational force. Key elements are how much authority the Iraqi leadership will have over its own armed forces and whether it will have a say in U.S.-led military operations.
| And since the interim gummint will be "sovereign", it will be free to alter the relationship as it wishes. Expect the weasels not to fare well. |
A last-minute addition Monday by the United States and Britain on Iraq's "security partnership" with U.S.-led forces was the key compromise. France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said "there are a lot of improvements" and "the text is going in the right direction now." "I think we have reached a stage where the resolution has a very good text," Germany's U.N. Ambassador Gunter Pleuger said. "My feeling is we have found a compromise." France wanted the resolution to state clearly that Iraq's interim government will have authority over its armed forces, that Iraqi forces can refuse to take part in operations by the multinational force, and that the new government could veto "sensitive offensive operations" by the U.S.-led force. The draft sent to the 15-member Security Council earlier Monday did not include any of these proposals. But the United States and Britain revised the draft to address the relationship between the international force that will provide security and the government that will assume power on June 30. The text now welcomes the exchange of letters between Iraq's new prime minister and Secretary of State Colin Powell and their pledge to work together to reach agreement on "the full range fundamental security and policy issues, including policy on sensitive offensive operations."
| Which means what we and the Iraqis want it to mean. |
It also notes "that Iraqi security forces are responsible to appropriate Iraqi ministers, that the government of Iraq has authority to commit Iraqi security forces to the multinational force to engage in operations with it" and that the new security bodies outlined in the letters will be used to reach agreement on military and security issues. The resolution says the interim government will have authority to ask the force to leave, but Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi indicated in a letter to Powell that the force will remain at least until an elected transitional government takes power early next year. The latest draft addressed a second issue raised by France, which wanted to ensure that any international assistance to Iraq, including foreign troops, was at the request of the interim government. The new resolution asks U.N. member states and regional and international organizations "to contribute assistance to the multinational force, including military forces, as agreed with the government of Iraq." It added language welcoming the interim government's commitment "to work towards a federal, democratic, pluralist and unified Iraq." It also reaffirmed the right of Iraqis to "exercise full authority and control over their financial and natural resources."
| Which doesn't mean what the French hope it means. |
Posted by: Steve White 2004-06-08 |
