UNITED NATIONS, May 19: Germany wants Iraq to set up a national security council to resolve disputes about military action between US-led forces, the Iraqi army and the new interim government, its diplomats said on Wednesday.
The proposal was part of an effort to resolve the most controversial section of a planned UN Security Council resolution on Iraq - the relationship between the Iraqi army and police and the US-led foreign troops.
Basically there is no disagreement in the council that Iraqi forces can say "no" to participation in an American military operation, but German envoys told reporters there should be a "mechanism" for them to do this.
The idea of some kind of coordinating body for security is shared by other Security Council members, said Pakistan's Ambassador Munir Akram, this month's council president.
"Part of the discussion is the possibility of a sort of consultative committee in which there would be representation of all sides... and that the actual security policy would be coordinated," he said.
"That needs to be fleshed out and see how the Iraqis who will be nominated will respond to that," he said, referring to negotiations in Baghdad on a new interim government by UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi.
A German diplomat said it was important that the new government was perceived as sovereign, even though US troops would be on the ground and its powers were limited because it would be selected, rather than elected.
"If government troops have the possibility to say "no," you need some coordination and consultation mechanism in which a political decision can be taken and then the execution of that decision can be done," said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"You could call it a national security council," he said, composed of Iraqi government officials, the multinational force and maybe even the United Nations, although it is doubtful the world body wants to be involved in security. -Reuters
