Abstract

A Flawed Resolution

Editorial. With its blueprint for Iraq in tatters, the United States President George W. Bush Administration has been forced to recognize the United Nations (UN) as the only body that can confer legitimacy on its continued occupation. In contrast to its disdainful dismissal of the views of the UN before the war, the White House repeatedly gave ground to win support of a Security Council resolution approving a new interim government. In addition to agreeing to give Iraqi leaders control over their own security forces, the White House was forced to consent to a specific time limit for the multinational force it will command and to give the Iraqi government the right to ask United States troops to leave before the expiration of the mandate on January 1, 2006. Despite the resolution, realities on the ground cannot be denied: The interim government is a creature of the United States, and U.S. troops will still be viewed as an occupying force, with all the potential for violence that entails. Iraqis overwhelmingly want to run their own affairs, and they want U.S. troops to leave.