UNITED NATIONS, Aug 21: US Secretary of State Colin Powell indicated on Thursday that the US would not cede authority to the UN in Iraq, and said American and UN officials were working on a draft resolution “that might call on member states to do more”.
Talking to reporters after a meeting with the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Mr Powell said discussions on the draft in the Security Council might include “issues with respect to the role the UN might play” in Iraq.
Mr Powell said countries that had sent troops to Iraq wanted US command over the peacekeeping operation. “You have to have control of a large military organization. That’s what US leadership brings to the coalition.”
“We have said all along that we want the UN to play a vital role. The issue of ceding authority is not an issue we have had to discuss today,” Mr Powell said. The US-led occupation authority was authorized by UN resolutions, he said. “We’re on solid ground there.”
The resolution would be designed to encourage more countries to send troops to help secure Iraq, a US official said in Washington.
Some experts have suggested that the United States may need to bolster or almost double its forces in Iraq in order to provide a modicum of a secure environment within which the Iraqi people can rebuild their country. However, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on a Colombian trip shot down the proposal. He said that despite the bombing in Iraq, he saw no need to increase troop levels, at least for now. “At the moment, the conclusion of the responsible military officials is that the force levels are where they should be.”
Thursday’s meetings between Mr Powell and Mr Annan suggest that some officials in the Bush administration, particularly in the State Department, believe that the bombing demonstrates that military reinforcements are needed. There are now 139,000 American troops in Iraq and 21,700 troops from other countries, half from Britain.
Reuters adds: One purpose of a new resolution would be to get Muslim troops into Iraq, both from Pakistan and Middle East countries, who have refused to send soldiers without a UN mandate.
Mr Powell said some 30 nations outside of the US had contributed 22,000 troops, and more were expected.
Britain, diplomats said, was more amenable to a wider UN political role as well as giving international troops more control over certain areas of Iraq.