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Bush, Blair agree "vital role" for UN in Iraq
( 2003-04-09 08:24 ) (7 )

President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair conduct a joint press conference after their meeting at Hillsborough Castle April 8, 2003. Bush and Blair endorsed a 'vital role' for the United Nations in Iraq and called for world unity over the country when fighting ends. [Reuters]

Iraq war allies George W. Bush and Tony Blair on Tuesday endorsed a "vital role" for the United Nations when fighting ends, but their plans may fall short of European desires.

The two leaders met for their third war summit in a month at an 18th century castle near Belfast as US forces staged an explosive show of strength in central Baghdad and tried to kill President Saddam Hussein with four huge bombs.

They hope their vision of a three-stage postwar scenario will placate anti-war nations like France, Germany and Russia, and appease widespread international suspicion of US motives.

"We are of course agreed ... that there will be a vital role for the United Nations in the reconstruction of Iraq," Blair said at a news conference with Bush at Hillsborough.

Bush used the same words, before spelling out their vision for the two remaining stages after US and British forces take administrative control in the immediate aftermath of war.

"We will move as quickly as possible to place governmental responsibilities under the control of an interim authority composed of Iraqis from both inside and outside the country," Bush said. "The interim authority will serve until a permanent government can be chosen by the Iraqi people."

He added: "Rebuilding of Iraq will require the support and expertise of the international community. We are committed to working with international institutions, including the United Nations, which will have a vital role to play in this task."

Pressed on what precisely the UN role would be, however, Bush mentioned only humanitarian work, "suggesting" people to staff the interim authority and helping Iraq "progress."

He did not spell out how much power the United Nations would have, an omission likely to alarm some in Europe and the Arab world. Nor did Bush elaborate on Washington's plans to place US officials alongside Iraqis in the interim administration.

SADDAM'S GRIP LOOSENING "FINGER BY FINGER"

Blair pleaded for the world to avoid diplomatic wrangling over Iraq's future like the bickering that preceded the war.

The British leader, who has stood by Bush throughout the crisis, said the world could be reassured that the "new Iraq" after the war would eventually be run only by the Iraqi people.

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, whose government was most vocal in opposing the war, insisted that reconstruction could not be left to just one or a few countries.

"We want the United Nations to play a central role in the search for a settlement to this crisis, in the post-war phase," he said in Paris.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, against war but keen to maintain good relations with his US and British allies, said in Berlin the United Nations should take a decisive role because of its humanitarian mission experience and "for reasons of legitimacy."

In a joint written statement, Bush and Blair pledged to seek UN Security Council resolutions to affirm Iraq's territorial integrity, ensure aid delivery and endorse an appropriate post- conflict administration for Iraq.

Neither leader had news of Saddam's fate following US attempts to kill him earlier on Tuesday.

"I don't know whether he survived," Bush said. "The only thing I can tell you is... that grip I used to describe that Saddam had around the throats of the Iraqi people is loosening. I can't tell you if all 10 fingers are off the throat but finger by finger it's coming off and the people are beginning to realize that."

Bush and Blair's ambitious agenda for the summit also included the Middle East and Northern Irish peace processes.

Bush pledged to put as much effort into obtaining Middle East peace as Blair had put into a Northern Ireland settlement.

The tiny, British-ruled province's 1998 peace agreement -- which stemmed the worst of three decades of violence even though it has hit fresh political problems -- could have lessons for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Blair said.

Bush briefly met Northern Ireland's various Catholic and Protestant political parties before flying out mid-afternoon. He urged them to accept an Anglo-Irish blueprint, due to be published later this week, for resuscitating the suspended power-sharing agreement set up under the 1998 accord.

Unlikely political allies with their contrasting right and left-wing backgrounds, Bush and Blair continued to lavish personal praise on each other. They seemed to get on well, going for a half-hour walk together in the castle grounds.

Bush's trip is widely seen as a payback for Blair's loyalty.

(Reuters)