US Gives up Idea of Bigger UN Role in Iraq: Newspaper

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, August 15, 2003

US Gives up Idea of Bigger UN Role in Iraq: Newspaper

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The Bush administration has abandoned the idea of giving the United Nations a bigger role in the occupation of Iraq as sought by France, India and other countries as a condition for their participation in peacekeeping in the oil-rich country, The New York Times reported Thursday.

Instead, the United States would widen its effort to enlist other countries to assist the occupation forces in Iraq, which are currently dominated by the 139,000 US troops there, the newspaper quoted US officials as saying.

The administration had expressed willingness to consider a bigger UN role in Iraq after Russia, India and some other countries refused to commit troops to the stabilization of Iraq under the current UN mandate.

According to The New York Times, there are 21,000 troops representing 18 countries in addition to American forces in Iraq. But 11,000 of that number are from Britain, a close US ally in the Iraq war.

Therefore, the United States plans to seek more troops from countries other than itself and Britain to help, especially from a dozen of countries which are providing relief supplies for Iraq.

US officials said in spite of the difficult security situation in Iraq, there was a consensus in the administration that it would be better to work with these countries than to involve the United Nations or countries that opposed the war and are now eager to exercise influence in a postwar Iraq.

The administration's position could complicate its hopes of bringing a large number of US troops home in short order, The New York Times said.

This is because the length of the American occupation depends on how quickly Iraq can be stabilized and the attacks and uprisings brought under control.

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