Doug Lorimer
The United Nations has failed to persuade enough member countries to contribute troops to provide protection for its planned mission to Iraq, according to the July 21 Los Angeles Times. The UN was seeking at least 1000 troops from non-US countries to protect its officials in Baghdad.
"It's a difficult problem for these countries, especially at a time when other countries [with troops in Iraq] are pulling out, or planning to leave ahead of schedule", one UN diplomat told the LA Times. "Discussions are continuing. So far no one has stepped forward."
The diplomat said that Pakistan, Egypt, Bangladesh, Thailand and Australia had been asked to contribute troops for UN protection but had declined.
If other countries fail to provide the troops, the LA Times noted, "the job will fall to the US-led coalition now patrolling the country. But that outcome would be embarrassing for the Bush administration, which has been struggling all year for ways to show it has international support" for the occupation of Iraq.
Washington is facing major problems in maintaining international support for its Iraq occupation. Following a 13-day hostage drama, the Philippines pulled its 51-member contingent out of Iraq on July 22 — five weeks ahead of schedule. Norway withdrew its 140-member contingent out of Iraq a week later. New Zealand and Thailand are planning to bring their troops home in September.
On July 22, UN secretary-general Kofi Annan announced the appointment of a new chief envoy to Iraq, Ashraf Qazi. Since September 2002, Qazi has been Pakistan's ambassador to the United States.
Annan's previous envoy to Iraq, veteran Alegerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi, has become increasingly criticial of the US-led invasion of Iraq. During a visit to Austria, Brahimi told the July 28 Salzburger Nachrichten that "the war in Iraq was useless, it caused more problems than it solved, and it brought in terrorism". He also said that there was "a large group of Iraqis who would attack any foreign occupation force out of patriotism".
He said that the US-appointed Interim Government of Iraq faced great challenges in proving that it was not "a puppet of the Americans, which is difficult to do when there are 150,000 foreign soldiers in the country".
From Green Left Weekly, August 4, 2004.
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