The Hindu : U.S. plans to seek U.N. resolution on Iraq

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 22, 2003

International

International

U.S. plans to seek U.N. resolution on Iraq

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington Aug. 21. The Bush administration is planning to seek a new United Nations Resolution that will urge other nations to send in troops and economic aid for the so-called stabilisation of Iraq. The proposal is still in the preliminary stages and the Resolution could take the form of an appeal to nations to contribute troops and assistance or a request from the Iraqi Governing Council to the Security Council for help.

The first impression is that the United States will not be relinquishing the military leadership role, meaning that whatever international security force materialises — and this is a big `if' at this time — it will be under American military command.

The Secretary of State, Colin Powell, is heading to New York for a meeting with the U.N. Secretary General, Kofi Annan. The British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, will also be at the world body's headquarters. The idea behind a new Security Council Resolution would be to pave the way for countries like India, Pakistan and Turkey to send troops. An unnamed Indian diplomat has been quoted in The New York Times as saying that much would depend on the language of the new Resolution that comes about.

``Obviously, our government will have to see the wording of any new Resolution to see if it is in line with our thinking'', the Indian diplomat has been quoted. The problem confronting the Bush administration is that it is keen on having any emerging Resolution on its terms — it wants other nations to send peacekeeping units but is unwilling or refusing to relent with the command and control of this international force.

That apart much as the State Department and the Pentagon might talk about ``dozens'' of countries already part of the coalition or anxious to line up behind the United States, the Bush administration would very much like countries such as India and Pakistan to be part of the emerging scheme of things in Iraq, particularly from a security point of view.

``I think there's a lot of reflection and a lot of assessment going on as to what else might be done with the many challenges faced in Iraq. And among the possibilities is another Security Council Resolution'', the top American U.N. envoy, John Negroponte said. Only very recently the Security Council gave its seal of approval on a United Nations mission in Iraq but nowhere near the scale of what had been long demanded by many in the international community.

With the passing of this Resolution came the distinct impression that the Bush administration had somehow given up on the idea of a broader mandate for the U.N., especially in the realm of peacekeeping duties. But the suicide bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad has changed the political and diplomatic environment.

Not many are impressed with the fashion in which this Republican administration is going about seeking a new Resolution at New York. In fact The Washington Post quotes a French diplomat taking the position that United States is making a ``cynical'' attempt to ``take advantage'' of the suffering of the United Nations staff members. And with this the warning has been that if Washington is going to use this tragic situation to check off all the things it had wanted thus far, that is simply not going to happen. The message that the Bush administration is hearing in New York is that if it is really serious about an international force for Iraq, then there has to be a meaningful devolution of authority.

What has not escaped attention in the hectic two days is that the Pentagon on the one hand has been saying that foreign reinforcements are needed to replace American soldiers; and the Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has said the current force levels are adequate.

``At the moment the conclusion of the responsible military officials is that the force levels are where they should be. The effort should be on developing additional Iraqi capability rather than additional coalition capability'',Donald Rumsfeld said at Honduras. But the pressure is on this Republican administration from Congress to try and seek meaningful — or ``genuine'' in the view of the ranking Democrat in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Joseph Biden — international support.

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