Newsday September 4, 2003
U.S. Negotiates UN Role; Seeks help in Iraq, but wants to lead efforts
By Ken Fireman and Timothy M. Phelps
Washington - The Bush administration yesterday staked out a tough bargaining position as it began negotiating with United Nations members on a plan to bring more countries into the embattled U.S. effort to stabilize and rebuild postwar Iraq.
A U.S. draft resolution, soon to be circulated among Security Council members, would create a UN-approved multinational military force to handle security in Iraq, but under a unified command headed by a U.S. general, according to Secretary of State Colin Powell.
On the political side, the United States will encourage the UN and other nations to increase their participation in reconstruction, but under the aegis of the existing Coalition Provisional Authority headed by U.S. diplomat Paul Bremer, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.
It is highly uncertain whether these U.S. proposals will satisfy the concerns of Security Council members such as France and Germany who have been demanding greater UN participation as the price of a new council resolution on Iraq. Such a resolution has become a high priority for the Bush administration because countries including India, Pakistan and Turkey - not to mention European allies strongly opposed to the war - have balked at contributing troops to police Iraq without UN approval.
An administration source said some U.S. diplomats charged with persuading the Security Council to adopt the new U.S. approach are not highly optimistic. Apart from recognizing the UN's role, the proposed resolution gives it little more authority in either the military or civilian spheres, the source conceded. And European diplomats here have said in the past that only a meaningful policy-making role for the UN would warrant a new resolution.
The administration source also said the timing of the resolution effort is not advantageous to the United States because the UN General Assembly is scheduled to convene in two weeks, bringing back to New York several foreign ministers, including those of France and Germany, who successfully rallied opposition to U.S. plans for Iraq in the past.
Nevertheless, the decision to seek greater international participation through a new UN resolution, which was made by President George W. Bush during a meeting with Powell on Tuesday, represents a significant shift in administration policy. And McClellan left the door open to modifications in the U.S. position, saying, "That's why we have consultations ... And we will consult. That's what's beginning now."
For weeks after U.S. forces stormed into Iraq and toppled Saddam Hussein's regime this spring, administration officials rejected calls for a larger UN role. They said they feared reviving the bitter dispute that had divided and deadlocked the Security Council just before the U.S. invasion in March.
But the deteriorating security situation in Iraq, loud bipartisan demands in Congress for greater international participation and the refusal of other nations to join the effort without UN sanction combined to force a change in course.
According to one former government official, the proposal is highly controversial within the administration, with civilians in the Defense Department fighting it "tooth and nail. They are bound and determined to gut it. They don't want to give up any political authority."
Powell said the current U.S. draft contained two key points: authorization of a multinational security force under U.S. command; and a call for the U.S.-created Iraqi Governing Council to formulate "a plan, a program and a timetable for its political evolution" into a legitimate democratic government by writing a constitution and holding free elections.
"With the resolution, you're essentially putting the Security Council in the game," he said.
But Middle East expert Ken Pollack, an early supporter of the war, said yesterday at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington that the administration may have missed its chance to turn to the UN for help.
If it had involved the UN before the war, or immediately after, member nations likely would have been more willing to help. Now, with casualties high, they are much less likely to risk the safety of their troops just because the United States is in trouble, he said.
Isam Al-Khafaji, Iraqi professor and former adviser to the U.S. forces there, said at the Middle East Institute think tank in Washington that what is needed there is not the empowerment of the UN but of the Iraqi people themselves.
Knut Royce of the Washington bureau contributed to this story.
A Push for a More International Force in Iraq
The Bush administration hopes allies will commit more troops to the peacekeeping effort in Iraq. A look at the current military presence:
ON THE GROUND
United States 140,000
Britain 11,000
Italy 3,000
Poland 2,400
Spain 1,300
Netherlands 1,100
Australia 1,000
Czech Republic 700
Romania 700
Bulgaria 470
Denmark 370
Hungary 300
Albania 100
Norway 100
Slovakia 70
Japan 40
Lithuania 40
Macedonia 30
PROMISED
Ukraine 2,000
Philippines 175
Estonia 50
Kazakhstan 25
SOURCE: GlobalSecurity.org; AP
GRAPHIC: 1) AFP / Getty Images Photo - Colin Powell details UN draft resolution yesterday. 2) AP Photo - More international assistance would complement the 720th Military Police Battalion during efforts like yesterday's search for weapons and enemy troops in Tikrit, Iraq.; Chart - A Push for a More International Force in Iraq (SEE END OF TEXT)
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