Misery reigns in gridlocked Manhattan

IT WAS miserable yesterday in Manhattan. The rain teemed down all day with no sign of relenting. The streets of the Upper East Side were gridlocked.

Miserable outside. Miserable inside the UN building near the East River, a couple of blocks away. There were faint hopes before the UN General Assembly met yesterday of some movement towards compromise on Iraq among the five permanent members of the Security Council. But as the morning ground on, it became clear that neither the US nor those that had opposed war were showing any signs of relenting. We had gridlock here too.

The address of US President George W Bush to the General Assembly yesterday was widely anticipated. The war in Iraq cost the US $79 billion but the "peace" that has followed is costing $4bn per month. There's a request before Congress for an additional $87bn in funding.

Now, the White House is facing the questions that shadowed pro-war European leaders for months. Where are the weapons of mass destruction? Has peace really been achieved? Are the ructions and ongoing killings part of a permanent problem for the US in Iraq? And in the past month the bounce Mr Bush got from the war is beginning to rebound with a vengeance. The two Democratic presidential front-runners, Howard Dean and Wesley Clark, are parading their positions opposing the invasion of Iraq. And the latest opinion poll a new one seems to be produced every day shows Mr Bush would lose to two Democrats, Clark and John Kerry, if an election were held tomorrow.

Democrats are beginning to believe that, against expectations, the prize might be there for the taking.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's meeting with Hillary Clinton at Saint Rose College in Albany on Monday was going to be a pedestrian affair. Yet, with certain quarters trying to stoke up her candidacy, the press conference was dominated by 'will-she, won't she?' questions. While The New York Daily News showed a big picture of Mr Ahern with Ms Clinton, the story with it referred only to her firm denial (for now) of any interest in running.

Mr Bush's speech came ahead of a proposed American-UN plan to garner wider international support in Iraq. There was no softening though; his 25-minute speech was as hard as granite, conceding nothing to his detractors at home or in Europe.

He must have used the word 'evil' at least 20 times. The speech at times took on biblical tones, containing absolutist warnings: "You are seeking order or you are spreading chaos."

The scene was set by a surprisingly tough speech from UN general secretary Kofi Annan, who said pre-emptive attacks by nations undermined the ethos of the United Nations.

Mr Bush, too, was in uncompromising mood. The speech he was delivered had not trace of the leavening influence of US Secretary of State Colin Powell. Instead, it came from the offices of National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and Vice-President Dick Cheney.

Mr Bush outlined America's role into the future, with a firm reminder that it, and it alone, would have the whip hand. The process could be "neither hurried or delayed by the wishes of other parties".

The crunch will be how much the US concedes in terms of control in Iraq. It certainly won't consider the French proposal to cede sovereignty to Iraq's ruling council immediately.

Mr Bush didn't deliver on specifics, saying only that the US would seek a Security Council resolution that would "expand the UN role in Iraq as in the aftermath of other conflicts".

The aspiration was a general one. "Iraq's new leaders are showing a tolerance and open-ness. Every new democracy needs the help of friends. [Iraq] deserves our aid [and] everybody should provide that."

Hardball talks will continue in a bid to find an agreeable resolution, a process that was not made easier by the firmness of yesterday's positions.