Re: U.S. Arm-Twists Iraqis to Seek U.N. Help Before Jun. 30

[Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@xxxxxxx>]

> Probably shouldn't confuse  a UN assessment team and advisor that
> won't even number the same as the 1,000 bureaucrats that were in
> Iraq last September.

The United Nations is in the business of supporting what Washington wants:

*****    Bremer: Vote may be 15 months away
By Edmund Sanders
Los Angeles Times

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The civil administrator for Iraq suggested Saturday
that it could take as long as 15 months for elections to be held in
Iraq, a timetable squarely at odds with that of the nation's leading
Shiite Muslim cleric.

Coalition Provisional Authority head Paul Bremer, in an interview
with an Arab television network, said Iraq needs to build the proper
infrastructure to support elections. "These technical problems will
take time to fix," he told Dubai-based Al-Arabiya.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, in written remarks
released Saturday, said the United States has been "stalling" and
failing to take the necessary steps to prepare for elections before
its scheduled June 30 transfer of power to an Iraqi transitional
government. . . .

On Thursday, U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan confirmed that a team
of U.N. electoral experts who visited Iraq this month had concluded
that the nation wouldn't be ready for elections until the end of the
year or early 2005. The new statements by Bremer and al-Sistani
underscore the challenges faced by the United Nations as it attempts
to broker a compromise and bring stability to the region.

In his TV remarks, Bremer said "the U.N. estimates somewhere between
a year and 15 months" will be needed before elections can be held.

(February 22, 2004,
<http://www.sltrib.com/2004/Feb/02222004/nation_w/141219.asp>)   *****

Washington wanted to delay elections, and the United Nations came up
with an estimate that pleases Washington; since then, Iraqis have
been pressured into accepting the postponement of elections.
--
Yoshie

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