The Bush administration is preparing to ask the United Nations to transform the U.S.-led force in Iraq to a multinational force and to play a leading role in forming an Iraqi government.
Awww, how disgracing crawling back to the womb of the UN
| It's a bad move on its face... |
PRESIDENT BUSH and Secretary of State Colin Powell met on the issue Tuesday and agreed to move forward with a new U.N. resolution, an effort to attract more foreign contributions to postwar Iraq, three senior administration officials said to The Associated Press. Powell and his aides will begin talking about the new resolution in coming days with key members of the Security Council whose support is critical â close ally Britain, as well as France and Russia, two countries that opposed the U.S.-led war.
Mon amour, we will rename our freedom frites again into French frites
| I somehow doubt we're going to do that... |
The United States hopes that expanding the U.N. role in postwar Iraq will attract badly needed troop contributions from additional countries to help stabilize Iraq and more money to help rebuild the country. Last week, Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage said Washington was considering creation of a multinational force under U.N. leadership â but with an American commander â in an attempt to persuade reluctant nations to send troops to boost security in Iraq. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has ruled out a U.N. peacekeeping force in Iraq, but he has sought to turn the military operation into a U.N.-authorized multinational force.
| Bit of a conflict there... Kofi wants it under the UN umbrella, but doesn't want to use UN troops... "We'll be in charge, you do the work." |
Five months after the United States was forced to drop a U.N. resolution seeking authority to attack Iraq, administration officials say they do not want a repeat of that brawl. They say they expect the United States to engage in quiet, behind-the-scenes negotiations on the text of the resolution, to ensure it would be agreeable to the veto-wielding permanent members and the rest of the Security Council, and to project a unanimous, internationally backed stand on what happens next on Iraq.
Uhmm, câmon guys we were just kidding, the UN is great, look we lowered our middle fingers let us please cooperate
| "You guys provide the troops and pay for them, and we'll wear brass hats and run the oil for nookie program..." |
According to the senior official, the Bush administration plans to begin talking to other nations within days about the new Security Council resolution. Diplomats say placing reconstruction under U.N. auspices will make it easier to garner contributions from nations that opposed the war, notably France and Germany. Belgium, too, said last week that it may be willing to donate money â if the United Nations was âplaying a central roleâ in reconstruction."
| "We'll kick in some, but only if we can rake it back..." |
âThe commitment of the United Nations has to be reinforced and reconceived,â he said. âThe authority in Iraq should be the U.N. as opposed to the occupying powers.â
| "'Cuz if it wasn't for the UN, the occupying powers wouldn't be there. Well, not now, anyway. A few years back, maybe..." |
Bulgariaâs U.N. Ambassador Stefan Tafrov, another council member whose country has already provided troops to the U.S.-led force, said a new resolution should provide âas central as possibleâ a role for the United Nations. âWhat is clear is that all members of the Security Council and the international community at large need a stabilized Iraq. Itâs in the interest of everybody, the Iraqi people to begin with,â he said. The administration is optimistic it can attract peacekeeping troops for Iraq from at least India, Pakistan and Turkey by placing the operation under the U.N. flag.
| I'd be a lot happier to see them come from Kazakhstan, Peru, and Rumania, myself. Somehow I can't see Pak and Indian troops patrolling near each other without having periodic shootouts, followed by loud cries of "They started it!" If the Indos kick in, the Pak jihadis will be swarming to Iraq and then we're going to have to kill them and... Oh. Never mind. |
Tentative drafts of a U.N. Security Council resolution circulated Friday among administration officials, but the State Department had yet to attract a consensus among them for expanding the U.N. role in Iraq. |