Welcome U.N. vote on Iraq
The importance of the unanimous vote of the Security Council for the United Nations to return to Iraq in strength should not be underestimated. The deadly bombing on Aug. 19, 2003, that killed the brilliant U.N. envoy Sergio Viera de Mello and 21 others at the world organization's headquarters in Baghdad, halted a promising effort to give the Iraq war a much needed international dimension.
The bombing was one of the most severe blows inflicted by al-Qaida against Iraq because it removed the U.N. from its crucial role as a mediator and interlocutor between the U.S.-led coalition and Iraqi religious leaders, particularly with the respected spiritual head of the nation's majority Shiites, the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who has refused to meet anyone from the nations fighting in Iraq.
Friday's vote signifies that the bitter disagreement over the decision to bypass the Security Council and invade Iraq that divided the United States, Britain and the other coalition members nations from France, Germany and Russia has been resolved. It is safe to say that the world's major nations are now in agreement on the need to help Iraq recover from the long years of tyranny under Saddam and the devastating sectarian violence, instigated largely by al-Qaida, that has followed.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Zalmay Khalilzad said he hoped the resolution committing the U.N. to major operations in Iraq will be "a springboard to greater international support for Iraq's government and people." He noted, too, that the resolution indicates that the international community recognizes that "Iraq has strategic implications not only for the region but for the entire world." Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said that Iraq needed the U.N. "on both the humanitarian and the political tracks, domestically and regionally."
Despite the terrible losses it sustained in Iraq, the U.N. organized the elections that led to a sovereign government, drafted the new constitution and helped rebuild the nation's institutions. How much more the U.N. will be able to achieve will depend on whether, this time, the staff can be guaranteed security. The U.N. Staff Council is not only resisting the plan to increase the number of personnel working in Iraq, arguing that they will not be safe, but wants to withdraw them all. There can be no doubt that the key to stability in Iraq is security, security, security.
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