The Observer | International | Iraq: Blair and Bush seek new UN backing
The United Nations is to be given a lead role in post-occupation Iraq under British and American plans to shore up crumbling international support for the continuing military presence in the country.
UK officials told The Observer there will be a sustained push for a fresh UN resolution ‘mandating’ the continued military presence in Iraq after the handover to the transitional government in June.
The move comes a week after the new Spanish Prime Minister, Jos� Lu�s Rodriguez Zapatero, threatened to withdraw troops from the coalition force unless it was given a greater degree of international legitimacy. British officials said Republican claims from America that Spain had ‘appeased’ terrorists were unhelpful and wrong.
The Polish government, which also supports the military action in Iraq, has now also suggested that it was misled on the reasons for war.
The resolution, which British sources believe will be backed by the Security Council, will also allow the UN a role in overseeing Iraq’s first democratic elections and the judicial and legal framework which the new government will rely on to protect individual freedoms.
Britain will then suggest a Nato role in security matters in Iraq, as happened successfully in Afghanistan.