Herbert: Hard Sell On Iraq

[Wetzelbill]

Hard Sell on Iraq
By BOB HERBERT

Published: October 10, 2003

The United States has tried again and again to get help from the United Nations as a way of legitimizing its tragic misadventure in Iraq. But the U.N., which was founded in 1945 to foster international cooperation as a way of promoting peace, is following the quiet guidance of its secretary general, Kofi Annan, whose response to the latest U.S. entreaty has been a polite but firm no.

At a private lunch last week with members of the Security Council, the secretary general made it clear that there was no chance he would go along with a U.S. proposal to have the U.N. assist in the effort to rebuild and reestablish security in Iraq even as the United States retains full control of the country.

"The U.S. would like to have its cake and eat it," said a diplomat who attended the lunch. "It wants to fly the U.N. flag to demonstrate to Iraqis and others that it is no longer an occupying power. But the U.S. would still be the occupying power because it would still be ruling the country."

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/10/opinion/10HERB.html

[Old and In the Way]

1. Thanks Kofi!

George says that the UN is irrelevant, but he'd sure like to con you into giving him cover for this fiasco. Please don't.

Letting up on this Misleader will only allow him and the US ruling tribunal to focus their energy on the next acquisition.