The Bush administration suffered a humiliating diplomatic climbdown over Iraq this week as it presented a draft resolution to the United Nations, asking for military and financial help to rescue it from the ballooning human, financial and political costs of the occupation.
The draft resolution calls for a Security Council mandate for a multinational military force, under a unified command and with United States commanders ultimately in charge.
The draft will also invite the Iraqi governing council to set out its own timetable for elections, to be administered by the US, and a return to sovereignty.
The Americans hope a UN mandate will pave the way for other states, such as Pakistan, India and Turkey, to contribute troops on the ground to assist with the deteriorating security situation.
”Certainly, the US will continue to play a dominant role,” Secretary of State Colin Powell said. ”But a dominant role does not mean the only role.”
With the Bush administration having sidestepped the UN in order to go to war, the resolution marks a defeat for the White House, where Defence Department hawks had dismissed the UN as irrelevant.
But the move will nonetheless come under stern criticism from the French, Germans and Security Council members.
These members have argued that if the international community is going to share the burden of occupation, it must also share the decision-making.
”The authority in Iraq should be the UN, as opposed to the occupying powers,” said Mexico’s UN ambassador, Adolfo Aguilar Zinser, a Security Council member.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has made it clear that he does not want UN blue helmets to be deployed in Iraq.
Diplomats expect France to exact a heavy price for agreeing to the resolution. A vote is not expected for several weeks.
The French also believe that control must be handed over to the Iraqis as soon as possible.
”The transfer of responsibility to the Iraqis is something which is a priority,” said Jean-Marc de La Sabliere, the French UN ambassador.
”On the whole subject we have to move fast, because the situation is deteriorating.” — Â