 | | | | | | | | | | |  |  | | | | Politics: Blair to Press Bush to Agree U.N. Role in Iraq">Archive of stories pre April 2007 | | | | | | | 
Archive of stories pre April 2007 | News submitted by: MIB
LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair flew to Washington Wednesday for a war council with President Bush, insisting that the United Nations must play a central role in post-war Iraq.
But his twin aims of healing a transatlantic rift between America and Europe, and binding the United Nations into the reconstruction of Iraq, represent huge challenges with Washington still smarting at a snub from the Security Council.
Publicly, Blair said he saw no problems.
"I do not believe there will be the need to persuade the president of the involvement of the United Nations," he told parliament.
But British government sources are less confident. "The Americans feel very bruised by the fight over the second resolution. That doesn't make it easy," one senior official said.
Blair persuaded Bush to seek a U.N. mandate for war on Iraq but after weeks of wrangling, France and other key powers effectively blocked a resolution authorizing military action -- shattering transatlantic relations in the process.
On the military front, the British government was bullish.
Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon told parliament the focus was switching firmly to Baghdad as President Saddam Hussein's administration had effectively lost control of southern Iraq.
But he warned MPs there could be a growing cost in civilian lives. "As we move forward those risks are increased," he said. "But I do not believe that that in any way has slowed down the campaign nor will we allow it to."
SCORCHED CORPSES
Reuters witnesses in Baghdad counted at least 15 scorched corpses after bomb and missile strikes intensified on Wednesday.
Blair said U.S. and British forces would support uprisings by disaffected Iraqis but added that a major rebellion might be some way off.
The prime minister is already looking further ahead. He will meet U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York after his talks with Bush at the president's Camp David retreat.
Annan said Tuesday that any U.N. role after the war beyond relief aid would have to be decided by the Security Council. But there was still haggling over restarting the U.N. oil-for-food program for Iraq, effectively suspended since war began.
Blair said his first priority was to reinstate that program, on which 60 percent of Iraqis rely for sustenance.
International Development Secretary Clare Short said a U.N. resolution to achieve that should be agreed in a matter of days.
But a second agreement, covering post-war reconstruction and a post-Saddam administration in Iraq, will prove far trickier.
"There is a lot of hurt and division," Short said.
Diplomats said Russia, France, China and Syria, Security Council members and staunch opponents of the war, did not want the wording of a resolution to say the United Nations would coordinate efforts with U.S. and British troops, as this would legitimize their military action.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=2452512
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