[dead]

"The UN is not the kind of private corporation that needs to increase its market share. We have quite enough to do elsewhere in the world and on other issues.

What a load of crap. They are absolutely salivating over the prospect of huge revenue generating “oil for food” (more accurately described as “oil for Kofi”) programs.

They would have let the people of Iraq live another forty years under brutal totalitarianism, as long as Kofi and his cronies maintained growing bank accounts.

[conservativecorner]

They can all go straight to hell! They helped the Saddam Regime in every way possible, and now they want to run things again. You can't fool America and the coalition of the willing twice.

[aegiscg47]

"Vultures" is the operative term here. A lesson needs to be taught and hopefully GW will be the one to give it.

[AZFolks]

My issue is not the treasure chest although this is a real benefit. My concern is allowing the fate of the Iraqi people to be put in the hands of the devious and, I believe, evil people at the UN.

[facedown]

UN under-secretary general Shashi Tharoor said the coalition allies had no rights under international law to engage in any kind of reconstruction or creation of government without the express consent of the Security Council.

Priceless.

[MizSterious]

Vulture alert!

[steve-b]

UN under-secretary general Shashi Tharoor said the coalition allies had no rights under international law to engage in any kind of reconstruction or creation of government without the express consent of the Security Council.

Talk to the hand.

[BOBTHENAILER]

On his tour of Europe this week, Annan would like to "get a sense from his point of view as to what he can expect to find himself and his organisation saddled with at the end of a Security Council process that hasn't yet begun", Tharoor said.

The UN could play a major role in picking through garbage dumps for recycling material and in physically scouring the sewer systems of Baghdad and Basra with UN personal using wire brushes.

[TLBSHOW]

send the UN back to the stone age, wait Bush and Bliar just don't get it do they?

[rageaholic]

Where was the UN tough talk about no plundering when Saddam was leeching off the food program to pad his luxury palaces? The UN has zero credibility.

[UncleSamUSA]

US Coalition to UN Toadies:
You stood in our way when we wanted to liberate Iraq...

So shut the fruck up now that it is being done without you.

Every whiny sentence you utter about how the UN "demands" to be let in on the reconstruction just shows how globally hypocritical and useless the UN is.

[The Toad]

Annan will be in "listening mode"

He, instead, should be in "getting out of the way" mode.

[AD from SpringBay]

It's all about semantics. I love how the UN is trying to frame this as a conquest. Why are they ignoring their failure? How come the coalition forces found in a matter of weeks what Mr. Blix and his inspectors failed to find in months? Inquiring minds already know that the UN is the new evil empire.

[Bikers4Bush]

The sooner annan and the u.n. find their way into a pine box the better.

[sauropod]

Pretty please? We're relevant...

[XJarhead]

Under the Geneva Conventions, the allies have the rights and responsibilities of any occupying power, including the responsibility to look after the territory, law and order, security and the welfare of the people on that territory. "But that's about it," Tharoor said.

"About it"? Doesn't that pretty much cover all bases?

The UN is not the kind of private corporation that needs to increase its market share.

Perhaps not. But the problem is that the U.N. as a distinct entity doesn't exist. It's the member states that actually matter, so the question is whether those member states or the coalition would make better trustees for the Iraqi people.

My guess is that the countries who were willing to sacrifice lives and expend their own funds to liberate the Iraqi people probably are the ones to be trusted.

[Kevin Curry]

He added: "The UN is not the kind of private corporation that needs to increase its market share."

It's a good thing for the UN that it is not. If it had been, it would have failed and gone bankrupt a long time ago.

Nobody's buying the crap you're selling, Tharoor. Like all good socialist enterprises you rely on government (the governments of the UN membership) to force others to buy your crap.

[Servant of the Nine]

They are wrong.

To quote Ronald Reagan: "We stole it fair and square".

So9

[InspiredPath1]

Where to start?

If the US went ahead with an interim administration without Security Council backing, there would be "real difficulty in the extent to which other countries would be prepared to recognise this group as anything other than an offshoot or a branch of the military occupation in Iraq".

Assume that the U.S. and the Iraqi's hold a "constitutional convention" and then seek the consent of the people. Would other nations NOT ACCEPT a duly constituted government?

There is no better way for the U.N. to finally prove it's irrelevance than by opposing the will of the iraqi people.

My concern is that the U.N. and the U.S. State Department would prefer "an Arab-friendly" government. I would prefer a "pro-freedom" government. It, however, will not take long for the Saudi's to start to poison whatever system is put in place. Saudi "Wahabi" schools will pop up and preach anti-Americanism and anti-semitism, all with the consent of the State department.

Write or e-mail your congressmen. The State Department needs to hear from you through your representatives!

[aruanan]

Iraq not your 'treasure chest', UN warns coalition

Should be "Iraq not your "treasure chest", coalition warns U.N.."

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

Looks to me like the buzzards are hoping to create a sustainable income stream from the Iraqi oilfields.

Course they would only use it for good and moral purposes, right?