Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[Chris McConnel]

Never Mind The Apology: Back Brahimi! link
President Bush finally got around to apologizing for torturing Iraqis, though promising that the torturer-in-chief, Donald Rumsfeld, "will stay in my Cabinet." But Bush failed to support the vital mission of Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations envoy in Iraq, while Rumsfeld's minions-led by Ahmad Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress—continue to heap abuse on Brahimi. (Incidentally, if you looked for a mention of Brahimi in The New York Times today, you didn't find one). Here's one news report :

       The United Nations envoy Lakhdar Brahimi  
        received a torrent of abuse from politicians as  
        he arrived in Iraq yesterday to try to assemble  
        an interim government to take back the  
        country's sovereignty in less than two months'  
        time.  
 

       Iraq's political parties stepped up criticism  
        of the veteran diplomat, seen by Washington as  
        crucial but seen by them as a threat to their  
        chances of assuming substantial power.  
 

       "The mechanism Brahimi is working on with the  
        occupation authorities lacks credibility and  
        fails to assess the situation in Iraq," said a  
        statement signed by eight parties. "The project  
        violates the interim constitution and opens the  
        way for the previous regime's men to return to  
        power."  
 

       Among the signatories was Ahmad Chalabi, a  
        Governing Council member, the Shiite Muslim  
        Dawa party and Islamic parties opposed to the  
        financial and political dominance of the two  
        Kurdish leaders effectively ruling northern  
        Iraq.  
 

       "Brahimi has stepped out of line. He has not  
        consulted the governing council on what he  
        intends to do in violation of the  
        constitution," Naseer al-Chaderji, a council  
        member, said. 

Most of the opposition to Brahimi is coming from Shiite fundamentalists, which means that it is coming from Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. The scowly fatwa man still has the power to call his fanatic followers into the street to oppose Brahimi, something that would make Muqtada al-Sadr's forces look puny. (Paul Bremer, the U.S. czar of Iraq, has meanwhile started calling Sadr "Sayyid Muqtada," a term of respect.)

The key support that Brahimi needs is a UN resolution stripping the United States of control of Iraq and giving it to the international community. There are signs that the work toward a new UN resolution is happening in tightly held Anglo-American circles, and Russia isn't happy. Read this :

       MOSCOW. May 7 Russia will not support any  
        provisions of a new UN Security Council  
        resolution on Iraq if the document's drafting  
        does not involve all council members, Deputy  
        Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov told Interfax on  
        Friday.  
 

       Fedotov was commenting on consultations held in  
        New York on Thursday at Britain's initiative to  
        discuss the possibility of putting the UN  
        Security Council's draft resolution on Iraq to  
        a vote.  
 

       "The consultations were of a tentative nature.  
        No draft resolutions were presented on paper,"  
        he said.  
 

       "Our position is that joint work is necessary  
        to develop the UN Security Council's common  
        approach," Fedotov said.  
 

       "If we once again see elements of a new  
        resolution drawn up behind the scenes, we will  
        give an appropriate response to these  
        elements," he said. 

Not the way to get the kind of resolution that the United States needs to get out of Iraq. Incidentally, on Nightline last night, former National Security Agency chief, Lt. Gen. William Odom, told Ted Koppel that the United States has already failed in Iraq, and needs to get out, now—and he supported exactly the kind of UN resolution I'm suggesting. Where are the Democrats?