THE UN -- SOMEDAY, in the TOMORROWS
Posted on 07/22/2004 7:45:18 AM PDT by Ranger
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Six weeks after the U.N. Security Council authorized a separate force to protect U.N. staff in Iraq, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Wednesday that the world body has not received a single firm commitment of troops.
Annan said if the 191 U.N. member states want the United Nations to play a major role in helping Iraq prepare for elections, draft a constitution, and rebuild the country they must ensure adequate security for U.N. personnel.
``Without that security, we cannot really deploy in any sizeable number,'' he said.
Security is an especially sensitive issue as the first anniversary of the Aug. 19, 2003, bombing of U.N. headquarters in Baghdad approaches. That blast killed 22 people, including top U.N. envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello.
It was followed by a second bombing, and after an upsurge in attacks elsewhere in Iraq, Annan ordered all U.N. international staff to leave the country in October. He has sent his special adviser, Lakhdar Brahimi, and U.N. election chief Carina Perelli to Iraq on several occasions - but there is still no permanent U.N. mission in Baghdad.
That will soon change following Annan's announcement last week that the new U.N. envoy to Iraq, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, who has been Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, will be based in Baghdad with a small team.
He is expected to arrive in Baghdad in late July or early August, but the U.S.-led multinational force will have to provide protection because the separate brigade of about 4,000 troops that was envisioned to protect U.N. staff and facilities still exists only on paper.
``We have about three or four countries that have indicated some interest,'' Annan told a news conference. ``I don't think any of them has come up with the size of force it is prepared to deploy; consultations and discussions are going on.''
U.N. diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, have identified Nepal and Georgia as two possible troop contributors.
The secretary-general said he had spoken to some leaders ``who seemed interested but had certain conditions,'' including Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
He indicated that Pakistan ``would be prepared to contribute if the request were to come from the Iraqi interim government, and if there were other Islamic troops on the ground, because they would not want to be the only Islamic force on the ground,'' Annan said.
Discussions are taking place with other Islamic countries about deploying troops to the region.
Some diplomats have expressed particular dismay that European countries, which have been pressing the United Nations to get more involved in Iraq, appear unwilling to provide the world body the protection it needs.
THE UN -- SOMEDAY, in the TOMORROWS
I presume you all are aware that they want their "own" standing army, entirely controlled by the U.N. If member nations won't "volunteer" the troops, they will be pushing even harder for their own "income stream" - that is; the power to impose taxes on the member nations so they can hire mercenary free agents. Watch for it in the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) coming to a Senate Floor vote near you next spring.
Call Chirac Kofi, I'm sure he'd be more than willing to help out.
This UN conference was witnessed by representatives of the nations of the world, and the world's free press - who carried the lies to the people of the world.
This UN conference ended 2 days before 9-11-01.
No major investigation - in the press or on Capitol Hill - has yet taken place to expose the inflammatory rhetoric of this conference, and the very real possibility that the hateful, dishonest, careless words shouted by ambitious 'leaders' emboldened and inflamed those who hoped to murder 35,000 in the WTC on 911.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.