Bush wants multinational force in Iraq

The Bush administration is preparing to ask the United Nations to transform the US-led force in Iraq to a multinational force and to play a leading role in forming an Iraqi government.

President George W Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell met on the issue yesterday and agreed to move forward, a senior administration official.

The Bush administration will begin talking about a new UN resolution in coming days with key members of the Security Council whose support is critical – close ally Britain as well as France and Russia, which opposed the US-led war and have been seeking a greater UN role.

The US hopes that expanding the UN role in post-war Iraq will attract badly needed troop contributions from additional countries to help stabilise Iraq and more money to help rebuild the country.

Five months after the US was forced to drop a UN resolution seeking authority to attack Iraq, administration officials say they do not want a repeat of that brawl. They say they expect the US to engage in quiet, behind-the-scenes negotiations on the text of the resolution, to ensure it would be agreeable to the veto-wielding permanent members and the rest of the Security Council, and to project a unanimous, internationally backed stand on what happens next on Iraq.

According to the senior official, the Bush administration plans to begin talking to other nations within days about the new Security Council resolution.

Diplomats say placing reconstruction under UN auspices will make it easier to garner contributions from nations that opposed the war, notably France and Germany. Belgium, too, said last week that it may be willing to donate money - if the UN was “playing a central role” in reconstruction.

The US has also struggled to persuade other countries to contribute troops without a new UN mandate.

But the administration is optimistic it can attract peacekeeping troops for Iraq from at least India, Pakistan and Turkey by placing the operation under the UN flag.

France, Russia and several other countries said they were not willing to go along unless the US went beyond simply putting the operation under UN sponsorship. Both France and Russia, along with the US, Britain and China, have veto power on the UN Security Council.

Last week, Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage said Washington was considering the creation of a multinational force under UN leadership – but with an American commander – in an attempt to persuade reluctant nations to send troops to boost security in Iraq.

But some in the administration consider the UN incapable of commanding or managing combat operations in Iraq and might even send in incompetent troops to provide a multinational look.

The administration would not consider putting the operation under UN control, said one official.