Bush, Blair cite 'vital role' for U.N. in postwar Iraq

[JQ Public]

Bush, Blair cite 'vital role' for U.N. in postwar Iraq

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (CNN) --The United Nations will play a "vital role" in Iraq's reconstruction after the war, President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair vowed Tuesday, but they said the country would ultimately be run by the Iraqi people.

Wrapping up two days of talks that focused primarily on a postwar Iraq, the two men sought to downplay reported differences between them over how strong a role the United Nations ought to play.

"Evidently, there's some skepticism here in Europe about whether or not I mean what I say," Bush said, apparently referring to reports that the United States does not favor a large role for the United Nations.

He insisted he wants the world body to have a role in humanitarian efforts as well as to suggest people for what has been dubbed the Iraqi Interim Authority, which Bush described as a "transition, quasi-government."

The Iraqi people, Bush said, would decide who would be part of the interim authority, which would govern Iraq "until the conditions are right for the people to elect their own leadership."

That interim authority is under development as part of the Pentagon's reconstruction and humanitarian aid efforts, U.S. administration officials said.

Bush strongly disputed suggestions that the United States wants to pick the leadership for a new Iraqi government.

"I hear a lot of talk here about how, you know, we're going to impose this leader or that leader," Bush said. "Forget it. From Day One, we have said the Iraqi people are capable of running their own government. That's what we believe. ... And that's precisely what's going to happen."

The two leaders also discussed the Middle East and Northern Ireland, but questions about Iraq dominated the news briefing with reporters Tuesday.

Blair has been under pressure from his European counterparts to push for a more prominent role for the United Nations, but he too made light of any differences with the Bush administration.

"The important thing is not to get into some battle about, you know, words of the precise role here or there, but let's all work together internationally," Blair said.

While Russia, Germany, and France have been pushing for the United Nations to play a leading role in shaping postwar Iraq, the Bush administration has made it clear through various officials that U.S. and allied forces would be in charge.

Bush administration officials have argued that coalition forces are uniquely qualified to assess the security and volatility on the ground and therefore should continue to control the country -- at least in the short run.

At the United Nations on Monday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said, "I do expect the U.N. to play an important role" in postwar Iraq.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday he spoke with Annan and told him that since the United States took "the political risk" of moving to replace the Iraqi regime, it would only be fitting that U.S. officials should advance Iraq's political reform.

Powell said Annan assured him that the United Nations "had no interest in controlling Iraq."

Over the weekend, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice justified the Bush administration's call for a limited U.N. role, saying Iraq was not like East Timor, Kosovo or Afghanistan -- countries in which new governments were set up under U.N. auspices.

Annan appointed a special U.N. envoy -- Rafeeuddin Ahmed, 70, a longtime U.N. official from Pakistan, to coordinate Iraqi reform efforts with the Bush administration.

CNN White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux contributed to this report.

[chadtm80]

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