Iraq chaos – Involvement of UN should calm turmoil

WITH world reaction deteriorating in the face of Iraq’s worsening security situation, it has become opportune for US President George W Bush to turn towards the United Nations for aid. And not before time.

The situation could hardly be worse. Amid an explosion of violence, personnel from Russia, Spain, Bulgaria, the Philippines, Thailand, Hungary, and Kazakhstan are on the brink of being pulled out of the war zone.

France, Russia and Portugal are advising nationals to leave. Poland has ruled out sending more troops to augment its force of 2,500 soldiers serving there.

Furthermore, the Ukraine government is under intense pressure to recall its troops. And there are street protests in Japan, Australia and South Korea against military deployments in war-torn Iraq.

Against this backdrop, it must be reiterated that, if the bellicose Bush-Blair axis had not conspired to trample in hobnail boots all over the UN from the outset, this unnecessary, bloody and increasingly unpopular war could have been averted.

With 51% of Americans currently voicing their disapproval of how Mr Bush is handling the Iraqi situation, compared with 44% who support him, the beleaguered president finds himself embroiled in a scenario that becomes more reminiscent of the Vietnam war by the day as the body count of US Marines rises.

Despite dismissing the Vietnam scenario in the course of his rare prime-time TV news conference, the comparison is sticking and could yet seriously undermine the Bush re-election campaign.

Aware of its inherent capacity to derail his re-election bid, the Bush camp is concentrating on quelling US public concerns in the face of grisly TV images of butchered corpses of US personnel brutally slaughtered in an orgy of violence by insurgents.

With Iraq in turmoil, and amid an alarming upsurge of kidnappings, the embattled president is authorising US forces to use any means necessary to maintain order.

There is widespread agreement on the fact that the escalation of hostage-taking marks a dangerous and frightening twist in the saga and should be denounced in the strongest terms by the Muslim leadership. It is absolutely fundamental that the hostages are released.

Nevertheless, the David and Goliath spectacle of a rocket being fired at a young rioter wielding a sling shot against US forces will further inflame feelings among the Arab population.

Fortunately, Bush’s call for a new UN resolution on the reconstruction of Iraq is a move in the right direction and could defuse the worsening situation.

This is the first time he has made such a concession and obviously reflects the painful realisation that the United States is losing the war for the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, something the gung-ho administration in the White House is finding hard to understand.

Following the blaze of violence which erupted in Fallujah this month, Iraqi militants throughout the country have abducted more than 50 hostages from 12 nations.

With several kidnap victims yet to be released, these tactics have caused a wave of terror among civilians working on the reconstruction of essential services there.

With the casualty count of US soldiers at 87 by last night, the highest for any month since the war began, the earlier the UN becomes involved on its terms, and the sooner hostilities give way to democratic elections, the better for global peace.