WASHINGTON: The headlines in US newspapers that greeted President George W. Bush upon his return to Washington from the United Nations sent a clear message: “Bush returns empty-handed.”
Bush administration officials admitted there were no commitments made by other countries for military or financial support in Iraq.
But newspapers were also quick to point out that Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell didn’t travel to the United Nations General Assembly session in New York to get binding offers for help.
That task they are to try to accomplish during bilateral talks in the days to come.
US officials said it’s a long shot that Washington will be able to garner the military support it is seeking to relieve American troops in Iraq, who have been subject to almost daily attacks by remnants from Saddam Hussein’s regime.
US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld was somewhat pessimistic even before Bush completed his talks at the United Nations, telling a US Senate committee that the international community might not commit any troops at all, regardless if a new UN resolution on Iraq is passed.
Meanwhile, it seemed more likely that the United States will have to dig into its pool of Army Reserves. Thousands of reservists and National Guard troops are preparing for yearlong missions in Iraq if other countries don’t pitch in.
Such deployments leave Bush open for more criticism after weeks that already saw his approval ratings drop sharply. Critics charged that the president lacks a clear plan in postwar Iraq and the White House has lost any chance of international cooperation because of poor diplomacy.
During Senate hearings on Wednesday and Thursday, Bush’s request for an additional $87 billion for the reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan and for the “war on terrorism” was scrutinized by both opposition Democrats and his fellow Republicans.
To make matters worse, Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction, used as the main justification to invade Iraq, have yet to turn up.
According to media reports on Thursday, a much-awaited report on the US search for such weapons will be inconclusive. David Kay, the weapons inspector who is heading the Central Intelligence Agency’s search in Iraq, is due to submit part of the report to Congress later this month.
The report will put somewhat of an official stamp on the United States’ failure to find the alleged weapons, a former CIA agent said.
With the report about to be released, Bush would have preferred to ensure support from other countries, but some UN watchers and diplomats said it could be months before reaching agreement on a new Security Council resolution while Washington has said it wants it to pass before an international donors conference in Madrid in late October.
Officials tried to focus on the upside of Bush’s trip to the United Nations. They stressed that progress has been made in overcoming the trans-Atlantic rift between Washington and Paris and Berlin, but Democrats said that was not enough.—dpa
