Schroeder welcomes pledge on UN role

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder cautiously welcomed the Anglo-American pledge that the UN should have a “vital role” in rebuilding Iraq, a demand Berlin has raised repeatedly in recent days.

“We have always said that, because the United Nations has, for example, great experience with organising humanitarian aid – and for reasons of legitimacy - the United Nations should play a central role in the post-war period,” Schroeder, a vocal opponent of the war in Iraq, said in Berlin