A legitimate failure

A recent UN resolution on Iraq welcomed the establishment of the Interim Governing Council but stopped short of offering any legal recognition to the body as the representative of the Iraqi people. In legal terms this means that when members of the council address the UN Security Council they will do so, as happened in late July, in their personal capacity. For the time being the Iraq's seat at both the UN and the Arab League will remain empty.

The reluctance of permanent and non-permanent members of the Security Council to offer any legal status seems to be yet another message to the US that if it wants to win over the international community in efforts to stabilise Iraq it will have to allow the UN a more central role in managing and reconstructing Iraq.

The US is increasingly stuck in Iraq. Reconstruction and political renewal is bogged down. The massive contracts that went to companies closely associated with fund-raisers for the campaigns of the US president or former employees of his senior and influential aides have led to questions over the motives of the US administration.

The US has not found evidence of the weapons of mass destruction that Saddam Hussein, it claimed along with the UK, could deploy in 45 minutes. Neither has the US found Saddam Hussein himself, who is quickly turning into another in Laden. The US has not been able to convince Arab states, that for the most part turned a blind eye to the invasion, to recognise the US-imposed Interim Governing Council.

The question remains: When will Washington concede that its invasion of Iraq is turning into a nightmare?

Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 21 - 27 August 2003 (Issue No. 652)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/652/ed.htm