Global Policy Forum

Powell Launches New Drive for Resolution to Seek Help in Reconstruction

By Colum Lynch

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell has initiated an intensive new drive to win support from the United Nations, Russia and other key Security Council members for the adoption of a U.S.-drafted resolution on Iraq, U.S. and U.N. officials said Saturday. The move, which Powell said he might abandon as early as Monday if it fails, signaled that the Bush administration is headed toward the endgame this week in its six-week effort to get a U.N. resolution adopted. The resolution asks governments to commit money and troops to help relieve the burden of the Iraq occupation on U.S. troops and taxpayers.

But the move also suggested that the United States is growing increasingly impatient with U.N. demands that it cede power to a provisional Iraqi government in exchange for greater international support. Powell has proposed compromise amendments to address the concerns of key Security Council members, primarily Russia and China, that the United Nations and the Iraqis have not been given an adequate role in shaping the political future of Iraq in a previous U.S. draft resolution. The amendments, which have not been made public, would leave the door open to the United Nations possibly playing a significant political role in Iraq, once security has been improved, according to diplomats familiar with the discussions.

Administration officials have given up hope that France, Germany and Syria, key critics of U.S. Iraq policy, can be persuaded to support a resolution that preserves U.S. control over Iraq for the foreseeable future. But they believe that a Russian commitment to vote for the resolution would draw undecided council members, including China, Pakistan and Chile, into the U.S. camp. "If we get the Russians, we think they are key to getting some of the others who were already leaning toward us," said a State Department official, who declined to be identified because of the ongoing negotiations.

President Bush, who is facing mounting pressure to internationalize the U.S. military occupation, said in his weekly radio broadcast Saturday that the United States remains "committed to expanding international cooperation in the reconstruction and security of Iraq." But he made no mention of Powell's efforts to gain a new U.N. mandate, instead highlighting the achievements of U.S. forces in Iraq and insisting the United States will continue to play a major role in Iraq's transition to self-rule. "We are working closely with Iraqi leaders as they prepare to draft a constitution, establish institutions of a civil society, and move toward free elections," he said.

Rep. Baron Hill, (D-Ind.), delivering the Democrats' weekly radio broadcast, said Saturday that the U.S. operation in Iraq, which he estimated will cost $150 billion this year, required more international help. "Our troops have been taking almost all the risks, and American taxpayers have been paying all the bills. To be successful, the president's go-it-alone strategy must end."

Powell told a gathering of news service reporters Friday that he will be "actively engaged" in rallying support for a new resolution over the weekend but that he "might" abandon the effort as early as Monday if he fails to generate support.

"I'll try to move quickly next week, if I do have something that I think will achieve our purpose," Powell said, according to remarks posted on the State Department Web site Saturday. "I'm not thinking of pulling it at the moment, but I might by Monday. . . . We have some ideas for accommodating some of the concerns that have been expressed by council members on the last draft, while at the same time preserving our principles and preserving our positions."

The Bush administration's resolution, which calls for a stronger U.N. role in Iraq, has been in trouble since Secretary General Kofi Annan told council members earlier this month that he will not send U.N. personnel to Iraq to play a subsidiary political role. But Powell has been in regular phone contact with Annan to see whether he can be persuaded to support the resolution, or at least to soften his opposition to it.

Despite Annan's opposition, senior Security Council diplomats said, the United States can probably obtain at least the nine votes required for adoption of the resolution in the 15-nation council. But the diplomats say that Washington does not want to go ahead without assurances of a stronger showing. "If Russia and China are not on board, they may not go ahead with this vote," said a senior council diplomat, who did not want to speak publicly about the closed-door negotiations.

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