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Powell & Europeans See United Nations Role in Postwar Iraq (State Dep work for the United Nations)
nytimes.com/ ^ | April 3 2003 | STEVEN R. WEISMAN

Posted on 04/03/2003 7:30:11 PM PST by gettheUSoutoftheUN

Powell and Europeans See U.N. Role in Postwar Iraq

RUSSELS, April 3 — The United States and its European allies proclaimed today that they had reached a broad consensus that the United Nations should play a significant role in the postwar reconstruction of Iraq, but they remained divided over many of the details of how extensive that role should be.

After a long day of back-to-back meetings between Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and the foreign ministers of 23 European countries, it was apparent that many of the differences that divided the allies over going to war against Iraq would remain as they faced the issue of Iraq's future.

Mr. Powell said that at least initially the military coalition led by the United States and Britain "has to play the leading role in determining the way forward" but that "this is not to say that we have to shut others out and not to say that we will not work in partnership with the international community and especially with the United Nations."

Sounding a somewhat different note, several European leaders said the United Nations should play more of an organizing role as quickly as possible. The European Union has said that only some kind of an international imprimatur on the occupation can avoid continuing bitterness in the Middle East about the war.

The French foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, who led the successful drive to thwart United Nations authorization of the war last month, said that "when the time is ready, we believe that the United Nations should have a central role to play." But he said that as a practical matter, its role could be phased in.

Despite these differences, American and European officials said they were extremely pleased with the relatively harmonious atmosphere they had managed to establish only a few weeks after the United Nations discussions on Iraq dissolved in acrimonious accusations on the eve of President Bush's decision to go to war.

Mr. Powell said he sensed "a coming together of the trans-Atlantic community to work on the rebuilding" of Iraq. And Mr. de Villepin emphasized that France would look past his previous battles with Mr. Powell. "I think we should be very pragmatic," he said.

Mr. Powell kept to a nearly frantic pace here, holding more than 20 one-on-one meetings and broadcast interviews, all intended to demonstrate that the United States still cared about European leaders' opinions.

Few denied that the divisions of the past several months over Iraq continued to be painfully felt. But they sought to emphasize the urgency of getting past them.

The secretary general of NATO, Lord Robertson, was asked whether his optimism about the future meant that all the past divisions had gone.

"I'm always optimistic, but I'm not stupid," he said. "Of course it has been a difficult period to go through, but I believe that after today's meeting we have been through the worst."

Many Europeans cited the need to involve Iraqis in a postwar government as quickly as possible.

Chris Patten, the European Union's commissioner for external relations, said it was imperative not only to have a major United Nations role but also to involve members of the current Iraqi government, as well as the governments of neighboring countries.

"All those things are blindingly obvious," Mr. Patten said. "What is less obvious is exactly how you sequence all these arrangements. I think that even if he didn't know before, the secretary of state is now very well aware of the importance which the European Union attaches to a U.N. role."

United Nations administrators are adamant about their unwillingness to undertake any responsibility unless they are assured of wholehearted international backing.

Mark Malloch Brown, director of the United Nations Development Program, told reporters at the United Nations today that bitter experiences in the Balkans and Africa showed that the United Nations "should never again take on responsibilities for which it didn't have the capacity, the financial resources or the political will."


TOPICS: Breaking News; Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: iraq; newiraq; un; unitednations
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To: Chicago
Rummy has his Iraqi's ready to go in and he has the Force to inplant them
21 posted on 04/03/2003 9:01:34 PM PST by scooby321
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To: gettheUSoutoftheUN
I would pay more attention to what Powell said, versus what the European media says Powell said or what Powell agreed to about the UN.
22 posted on 04/03/2003 9:03:31 PM PST by CyberAnt
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To: gettheUSoutoftheUN
You'll want to read this outstanding article explaining why the U.N. can't take the lead in Iraq's reconstruction.

It's about corruption. The only reason the really mean it when they say, US Warned That Oil Cannot Provide Funds, is because of the amount these crooks intend to siphon off for themselves.

23 posted on 04/03/2003 9:10:27 PM PST by Carry_Okie (With friends like these, who needs friends?)
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To: The Old Hoosier
The State Department has been infiltrated by Big RED for a long time, I'm a'feared.

President Bush is not well-served by following any of the above recommendations from the EU or the UN or State. Their missions are not ones of freedom but of enslavement.

Also, The European Union has said that only some kind of an international imprimatur on the occupation can avoid continuing bitterness in the Middle East about the war. .. Who says? The EU? They are an infant in the geopolitical scheme of things, upstarts. Reject their ill advice.

And lastly ... Mark Malloch Brown, director of the United Nations Development Program, told reporters at the United Nations today that bitter experiences in the Balkans and Africa showed that the United Nations "should never again take on responsibilities for which it didn't have the capacity, the financial resources or the political will." .. nor the guts to deal fairly and equitably with all parties, rather than as an Overlord.

24 posted on 04/03/2003 9:14:10 PM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi)
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To: Jason Kauppinen
Would it be too over the top to burn a UN flag at a rally?

Not at all. Burn the French and German flags too.

25 posted on 04/03/2003 9:16:33 PM PST by laz17 (Socialism is the religion of the atheist.)
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To: gettheUSoutoftheUN

26 posted on 04/03/2003 9:17:13 PM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi)
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To: gettheUSoutoftheUN
"We must stabilise Iraq," said the French foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin.

De Villepin is just mad that the US upset Iraq's "stability" with this invasion.

27 posted on 04/03/2003 9:38:20 PM PST by xm177e2 (Stalinists, Maoists, Ba'athists, Pacifists: Why are they always on the same side?)
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To: The Old Hoosier
North Korea plans to upgrade missiles with Russian technology Thursday, 03-Apr-2003 7:04AM Story from AFP
Copyright 2003 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)




TOKYO, April 3 (AFP) - North Korea, locked in a nuclear standoff with the United States, plans to import leading-edge Russian missile and rocket systems via Syria to upgrade its ballistic missiles, a press report said Thursday.

The Stalinist state is expected to use the hardware, including the hi-tech tactical missile Iskandar-E and the multiple launch rocket system Smerch, to upgrade the guidance system and other functions of its long-range missiles, the Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun said.

North Korea and Syria have a secret deal on the trade, possibly based on an agreement on scientific and technological cooperation which was concluded last year, the conservative daily quoted military sources, well informed on Korean affairs, as saying.

The science and technology accord was signed when North Korea's number-two Kim Yong-Nam, the head of the Supreme People's Assembly, visited Syria in July last year.

At that time, Kim handed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a personal letter from North Korea's absolute leader Kim Jong-Il, calling for closer ties between the two countries.

North Korean missile engineers are already staying in Syria to prepare for the arrival of the Russian hardware, the report said. They are expected to arrange the further shipment of the hardware under cover by sea to North Korea.

The Russians have not been informed of the secret transfer deal, the report said.

In exchange for the shipment, North Korea will cooperate with Syria's development of ballistic missiles, the report said.

North Korea has ballistic Rodong missiles, which can strike almost all of Japan, and longer-range Taepodong missiles.

In 1998, Pyongyang sent shockwaves around the world by test-firing a suspected Taepodong-1 missile, part of which flew over Japan's main island of Honshu and into the Pacific.

Five years earlier, North Korea launched into the Sea of Japan a Rodong-1 missile with a range of 1,300 kilometers (810 miles) after testing two types of crude Scud missiles.

According to South Korean defence ministry data, North Korea is currently testing Taepodong-1 missiles with a range of 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) and is also developing a longer-range Taepodong-2.

Some military analysts here have predicted that this year the North would test-fire a Taepodong-2, which could be capable of reaching parts of the continental United States.

North Korea has launched at least two short-range land-to-ship missiles off its coasts in recent weeks, as it has angrily alleged that is is being eyed as the next target of a pre-emptive US military attack to snuff out its suspected nuclear arms ambitions.

sps/ja/sdm/dv

NKorea-nuclear-missile-Syria-Russia
28 posted on 04/03/2003 10:59:50 PM PST by FreeSpeechZone
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To: Cicero
keep in mind that this is the New York Times, desperately trying to make trouble

Boy is that the truth. How many times in this administration has the NY Times boldly asserted something that was based on only a grain of truth, causing the administration or officials in question to publicly contradict them.

Howell Raines plays dirty, it's probably best to wait and see what the administration actually does rather than listen to the Times.

29 posted on 04/03/2003 11:11:21 PM PST by PianoMan (Liberate the Axis of Evil)
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To: PianoMan
"Mr. Powell kept to a nearly frantic pace here, holding more than 20 one-on-one meetings and broadcast interviews, all intended to demonstrate that the United States still cared about European leaders' opinions."

Don't mean to be disagreeable, but this quote describes Mr. Powell's character perfectly. There is no reason to doubt it isn't true.

30 posted on 04/03/2003 11:20:46 PM PST by The Westerner
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To: The Westerner
I could give a fart for Colon Bowell's spinelessness towards those who f*ked us in our rear end, if you'll pardon my expression. I have more expletives but I think I'll hold them back and at the risk of getting this post deleted by the admin moderator, all I'll state for the record at this time is color me beyond disgusted and offended.
31 posted on 04/04/2003 3:10:42 AM PST by goldstategop
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To: gettheUSoutoftheUN
"As soon as Saddam Hussein's regime falls, the work to build a new,
free and united Iraq will begin. A peaceful, prosperous Iraq which will
be run by and for the Iraqi people, not by America, not by Britain,
not by the U.N."
-- Tony Blair

32 posted on 04/04/2003 3:31:39 AM PST by ppaul
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To: Chicago
At times, Colin Powell is an appeaser. I believe that he played a large role in the US prematurely stopping Gulf War I (while he was Sec. Defense) before we took out Saddam and his regime.

You're right, except that he was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Dick Cheney was Secretary of Defense.

33 posted on 04/04/2003 10:09:16 AM PST by RottiBiz (If everyone gave just a few dollars a month, we'd never have to hold another FReepathon!)
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To: gettheUSoutoftheUN
Powell = Moron.

Bush = Doesn't Learn Lessons About Listening To Wrong People.

GOP = Exasperated.

Public = Will Turn On Bush For Latest Confusing, Irrational Powellism No. 4,157.

34 posted on 04/04/2003 10:35:01 AM PST by Enduring Freedom (To smash the ugly face of Socialism is our mission)
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To: Enduring Freedom
According to King, Iraq’s oilfields will serve as an incentive, especially for private companies, to invest in rebuilding Iraq. But ultimately, he believes funds derived from Iraqi oil should and will be placed in the hands of a UN-managed trust fund.
35 posted on 04/04/2003 3:15:45 PM PST by FreeSpeechZone
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To: RottiBiz
Kofi . . (tap-tap) Kofi . .
Kofi Is That You!? - Kofi . .

My Dear Friends France, Germany, and Russia . .
Of Course You Can Ride Our Military's Victory In Iraq . .

36 posted on 04/04/2003 9:10:50 PM PST by Happy2BMe (HOLLYWOOD:Ask not what U can do for your country, ask what U can do for Iraq!)
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