Go for Geneva

In a flurry of diplomatic activity following President George W Bush's call for the UN to shoulder its "responsibility" in Iraq the world body may finally be given a more prominent role in the running and reconstruction of Iraq. While that is a welcome development, what would be unacceptable is for the UN to offer a fig-leaf for US occupation forces.

France, Germany, Russia and China have long called for a more substantial UN presence in Iraq, and rightly so. Only a powerful UN presence can lend legitimacy and credibility to the armed foreign presence in Iraq and give the Iraqi people hope that there will be a speedy departure of foreign troops. After consultations with officials from the five Security Council permanent members, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan scheduled a meeting of the foreign ministers of the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China in Geneva, Switzerland, over the weekend.

The UN already runs civil administrations in Kosovo and Afghanistan, though the military role remains effectively in American hands. And, as President Bush has made abundantly clear, Washington is not prepared to put its troops under UN command. It is for precisely this reason that we can expect dissent from other nations, including some of Washington's staunchest Western allies.

The Geneva meeting comes as the Bush administration defends its call for $87 billion to continue operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The US budget deficit is already at record levels, and the world shudders as it contemplates the ripple effects of further aggravating US economic woes.

The Iraqi people must run Iraq. The Iraqi people desperately need the goodwill and assistance of the international community. The US cannot run Iraq alone, or indefinitely. Paul Bremer's seven-stage plan for Iraq cannot work without a strong UN input. The UN must be granted a role in running the first post-Saddam Hussein Iraqi elections. Washington's go it alone attitude has not, and cannot, work.