|
Us asks un for wider role { September 2 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16444-2003Sep2.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16444-2003Sep2.html
U.S. to Ask U.N. for Wider Role in Iraq
By GEORGE GEDDA
The Associated Press
Tuesday, September 2, 2003; 8:14 PM
WASHINGTON - 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.
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 on condition of anonymity.
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 - close ally Britain, as well as France and Russia, two countries that opposed the U.S.-led war.
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.
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.
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 - if the United Nations was "playing a central role" in reconstruction.
The United States has also struggled to persuade other countries to contribute troops without a new U.N. mandate.
But 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. 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.
Tuesday evening, officials said they had reached agreement between American government agencies on how to proceed.
France, Russia and several other countries said they were not willing to go along unless the United States went beyond simply putting the operation under U.N. sponsorship. Both France and Russia, along with United States, Britain and China, have veto power on the U.N. Security Council.
Last week, Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage said Washington was considering the creation of a multinational force under U.N. leadership - but with an American commander - in an attempt to persuade reluctant nations to send troops to boost security in Iraq.
But some in the administration consider the United Nations incapable of commanding or managing combat operations in Iraq and might even send in incompetent troops to provide a multinational look.
The administration would not consider putting the operation under U.N. control, said one official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
---
Associated Press reporters Scott Lindlaw in Washington and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
© 2003 The Associated Press
|
|
