U.N. OKs U.S.-Led Administration of Iraq
The Associated Press
5/22/2003, 10:20 a.m. ET
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — In a victory for the United States, the U.N. Security Council overwhelmingly approved a resolution Thursday giving the United Nations' backing to the U.S.-led administration of Iraq and lifting economic sanctions.
The resolution passed by a 14-0 vote, with Syria absent.
John Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador, said that after a decade of being frozen out of the world economy by sanctions against Saddam Hussein's regime "it is time for the Iraqi people to benefit from their natural resources."
Following Wednesday night's joint announcement that three bitter opponents of the U.S.-led war — France, Russia and Germany — would back the resolution rather than abstain, only Syria's vote remained in doubt.
Secretary of State Colin Powell had expressed hope for a unanimous 15-0 vote for the U.S. plans for postwar Iraq — but Syria didn't show up for the vote. So the resolution only got 14 "yes" votes.
The final resolution represented a compromise but left the underlying goal of the United States and its allies intact: Washington and London, as occupying powers, remain firmly in control of Iraq and its oil wealth "until an internationally recognized, representative government is established."
With the immediate lifting of sanctions, Pakistan's U.N. Ambassador Munir Akram and other council diplomats said they expect Iraqi oil exports to resume quickly. There are 8 million barrels of Iraqi oil in storage points at the Turkish port of Ceyhan, one of Iraq's two export terminals, that can be sold immediately, diplomats said.
The resolution gives the United Nations a stronger role in establishing a democratic government than initially envisioned, and the stature of a U.N. special representative in Iraq is increased.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who attended the council meeting, has promised to quickly appoint a representative, and speculation centered on U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sergio Vieira de Mello, who has Washington's support.
The world body did not get the lead role that France, Russia and Germany would have liked.
Nonetheless, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, standing beside his German and Russian counterparts in Paris, said late Wednesday that the three countries decided to vote for the postwar resolution because it "opens the road" for a central U.N. role.
The text "does not go as far as we had hoped" but "the United Nations is back in the game," he said. "We are convinced that the U.N. will tomorrow be the focus for international action, due to its legitimacy, experience and capabilities."
Many council members had complained the resolution set no end to the U.S. and British occupation of Iraq and gave the victorious allies far more power than international conventions dealing with occupying forces. Many also wanted the council to have a significant role in monitoring reconstruction.
The text "does not go as far as we had hoped" but "the United Nations is back in the game," he said. "We are convinced that the U.N. will tomorrow be the focus for international action, due to its legitimacy, experience and capabilities."
Uh huh, whatever you say, loser.
