The Hindu : U.S. looking to U.N. for broader mandate on Iraq?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 18, 2003

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International

U.S. looking to U.N. for broader mandate on Iraq?

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington JULY 17. Faced with growing pressure on a number of fronts in Iraq, the Bush administration is in the first stages of looking to the United Nations Security Council for a much broader mandate that would facilitate more nations joining the process inside Iraq. The U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, admitted on Wednesday that moves were on with other Governments and U.N. officials, but only at the preliminary stage.

In New York, the U.N. Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, said that peacekeeping operations in Iraq under the mandate of the world body "is under discussion" adding that this was an issue not merely confined to the positions of France or India. "This is not an issue just for France and India. Other Governments are grappling with the same issue and the question has been posed as to whether or not Security Council action may not improve the situation... When and if that action would be taken by the Council, I do not know, but discussions are going on." Now, the U.N. operations in Iraq are limited to humanitarian relief and it is no secret why the Republican administration wanted it this way — in Washington's perception a greater say for the U.N. meant others meddling in the U.S. political and economic agenda.

The Bush administration has been forced to rethink its strategy seeing that key nations in Europe and Asia are unwilling to participate in the Iraq "operations" without a stronger and explicit mandate from the Security Council. Some of the current misgivings stem from the fact that the present `limited' mandate is driven by the U.S. and Britain. The administration is also under pressure regarding the daily targeting of its troops in Iraq, and the General in charge of the Central Command, John Abizaid, has admitted, belatedly, that what is going on inside Iraq is the classic guerrilla-type war. Lawmakers and critics want to know if the Bush administration has an exit strategy.

Then there is the criticism over whether the administration — especially the White House — twisted intelligence estimates to suit its rationale with the Democrats demanding a full-fledged investigation.

Senior members of Congress are appalled that the U.S. is spending close to $4 billion every month in Iraq; and with Afghanistan added, the bill is about $5 billion. The economics of the U.S. involvement apart, there is a growing clamour for making the operations in Iraq truly international — that is, meaningful participation from Europe, Russia and the Asia Pacific. In fact, some on Capitol Hill are calling on the administration to bring in NATO for the reconstruction, development and stabilisation of Iraq. For the last several days the consistent theme of the administration, be it the State Department or the White House, has been that there is enough in U.N. Resolution 1483 for countries to send troops to Iraq if they choose to.

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