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| Iraq |
| U.N. Presses U.S. to Meet on Iraq Role |
| 2003-12-20 |
| UNITED NATIONS (AP) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan tried Friday to persuade President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell to send a delegation from the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq to a meeting aimed at clarifying the U.N. role in helping rebuild the country. Annan called for the Jan. 15 meeting to get specific answers about what the Iraqi Governing Council or the U.S.-led coalition expect from the United Nations before a provisional government takes power in Iraq in June. Isn’t that MLK Day? We can’t meet on a federal holiday. Maybe some other time. The Bush administration has repeatedly said it wants the world body to play ``a vital role’’ in Iraq, but the November agreement between the coalition and the council on the timetable for a provisional government and elections by the end of 2005 does not mention the United Nations. Oops, our bad. Annan has said he is certain the Governing Council would attend the Jan. 15 meeting to discuss the specifics of the U.N. role, but preliminary consultations with the coalition have just started. Lots of Federal holidays in January. I’m sure the Iraqis have holidays in January as well. Can we make it for Annan spoke with Bush and Powell on Friday and neither the president nor the secretary of state committed to sending a coalition delegation, U.N. and diplomats sources said on condition of anonymity. "Nope, nope, too inconvenient, those dates won’t work." State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said a decision has not been made. ``We’re in discussions with officials at the U.N. and the secretary-general to get a better idea of what specifically they have in mind and how specifically that could contribute to the goals that we all share,’’ Ereli said. "We’re pretty sure that the best way they could contribute would be to stay out of the way, but Mr. Annan gets upset everytime we say that." The United States views the U.N. role in Iraq as an issue between the United Nations and the Governing Council - not the coalition. ``We certainly welcome a dialogue between the U.N. and the Iraqis that would lead to a closer on-the-ground working relationship in Iraq itself,’’ Ereli said. ``And we would certainly be willing to play a supportive role in that process.’’ We could arrange security for any meetings in Baghdad -- you know, the kind of security that actually works, unlike the UN kind." But Annan insists it must be ``a three-way conversation,’’ and it is unclear whether he would accept the coalition in a supporting role. "There he goes again! Quick, somebody prepare a seven-course meal!" The Bush administration has been pressing for a quick return of the U.N.’s international staff to Baghdad, and has made clear it wants to hand over administration of the country to Iraqis as quickly as possible. Similar message was delivered to the Weasels on reconstruction and debt relief: you want in, you actually have to make a contribution. The secretary-general pulled all U.N. international staff out of Iraq in October after two bombings at U.N. headquarters in Baghdad and a series of attacks on humanitarian organizations. Annan considers the security situation in the country too dangerous for their return but believes the United Nations can do a lot from outside Iraq. They’re doing a lot by staying away. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #14 The "vital role" I had in mind for the UN was running the Starbucks at Baghdad International Airport. |
| Posted by: Christopher Johnson 2003-12-20 5:20:46 PM |
| #13 I agree with George Bush: the United Nations has a vital role to play in Iraq. Somebody's gotta clear out all those mines, clean up all the mass graves, pick up all the trash, and sweep the streets. THAT is what I'd have the UN do - but only under close supervision. They've already proven they're not self-starters. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-12-20 3:32:45 PM |
| #12 The Coalition of the Willing is doing the heavy lifting and getting the job done in Iraq, despite heavy insurgent opposition and ambushes (NYT, alphabet channels, Dem candidates, Rev. Jesse Jackson). Even the Axis of Weasels is slowly coming around. Kofi just does not get it. The world is moving on and he is issuing orders from a ship that has run aground. Maybe his ship will run out of fuel and that will be that. One can hope. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-12-20 3:18:47 PM |
| #11 The problem with the U.N. is that they still don't realize that they've lost most, if not all, of their credibility. Hans Blix failed in his mission not because he didn't find any WMD, but because we wouldn't have believed him if he said that they didn't exist. Kofi has a simiar problem with the Iraqis -- the U.N. is going to have to re-establish their credibility before they're going to be able to play any role. |
| Posted by: snellenr 2003-12-20 2:49:53 PM |
| #10 Mark #5: The version I read had Kofi saying, "Now is not the time to point fingers and place blame over the past." He didn't say anything about pointing fingers and placing blame over the present. |
| Posted by: Glenn (not Reynolds) 2003-12-20 1:57:47 PM |
| #9 Here's the deal, Kofi ol' boy: The meet's in Baghdad, and only you are invited, not your |
| Posted by: Nero 2003-12-20 12:09:10 PM |
| #8 To use a Star Trek illustration. The UN played the role of the guy on the landing party that nobody has seen before wearing the red engineering shirt. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-12-20 11:02:16 AM |
| #7 The UN role has been played. I believe the role was "soft target." |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-12-20 10:23:55 AM |
| #6 I think Kofi's confused. A UN role in Iraq would mean having UN personnel actually in Iraq - but they cut and ran a while back. I doubt they've acquired the balls to go back. |
| Posted by: Spot 2003-12-20 8:40:38 AM |
| #5 The interim Iraqi FM chewed Kofi and his boys a new ass this past week during a speech at the UN. If Kofi wants to talk about a UN role in Iraq he needs to address the issues raised by the FM. And Kofi, I don't mean by merely saying "now isn't the time to point fingers and to try to place blame". Hey Kofi: For starters open the books to the FM on the "oil for food" program. Let the Iraq FM judge whether you can be trusted to have any role. Your problem, Kofi, is that you ASSUME you can be trusted despite all evidence to the contrary. |
| Posted by: Mark 2003-12-20 8:17:29 AM |
| #4 I suspect that from the administration's point of view, the UN is already playing the most "vital" role it's going to play in the foreseeable future: staying the hell out of the way. Bush warned the UN back in September 2002 that it must either step up to the plate or follow the League of Nations into irrelevance. And irrelevant is what it appears to have become. None too soon, IMO. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2003-12-20 7:49:34 AM |
| #3 Heh, I think you're both on-target! Perhaps the UN powers that be finally recognize the train is in motion and it's now or never for them to get their hooks into Iraq. The fact that it has left the station entirely, that the Iraqis either suspect or know the UN was the venue in which the foes of their liberation fought tooth and nail against them and that Saddam had cut numerous inside deals to pilfer and plunder UN programs ostensibly meant to help the people - and this required UN conspirators, and that the UN is a multilateral effort to keep them down and subject to the whims of their Arab neighbors, if not Saddam -- the fact that all of these indictments of the "international community" for complicity and fraud were finally spoken aloud by the new Iraqi FM probably has Kofi & Co's shorts all in a bunch. Indeed, the emperor has no clothes, and the Iraqis are proving difficult because they are crude and simplisme enough to say so. Too late, numbnuts, the gig is up. |
| Posted by: .com 2003-12-20 6:59:17 AM |
| #2 The Bush administration has repeatedly said it wants the world body to play ``a vital role’’ in Iraq I really wish they would stop saying that. It clearly has Kofi confused. He's obviously not the sharpest knife, you'd think a career beaurocrat would know a kiss off when he gets one. |
| Posted by: Mike 2003-12-20 6:21:55 AM |
| #1 U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan tried Friday to persuade President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell to send a delegation from the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq to a meeting aimed at clarifying the U.N. role in helping rebuild the country. How about NO U.N. role? Just stay the hell out. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-12-20 2:33:39 AM |