UN Involvement in Post-War Iraq

[orange]

What should the UN's involvement be in post-war Iraq? Should the UN not become involved, as it is was not a war faught by the UN, or sure it take an active role in creating workable democracy to prevent US/British Imperialism? What do you think reactions will be from different sides...how will the US feel about UN taking the reigns...likewise, how will the Arab world view it? How does the percieved action against nations like Syria affect the UN's role?

Thoughts?

[BeBMan]

Post-war Iraq without other help than from the US and UK seems impossible to manage. The US will at least agree with humanitarian aid, however, I doubt the UN will get political influence to make decisions about the structure of the future goverment etc.

From my perspective as a German I wouldn´t worry much about the fact that the US talkes the lead (and not the UN) *if* there are really efforts to create a stable, somehow better (democratic, if possible) Iraq. Even a certain of US military rule over the country would be ok IMO, Germany in the end benefitted from it.

There are several problems of course - first, all these *ifs* seem quite big, and second, in the long run the Iraqis may not agree with my perpective.

[Shi Huangdi]

The UN can assist, but it would be unacceptable for the likes of France, Russia, and Germany to actually be able to direct the country....

[BeBMan]

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi
.... but it would be unacceptable for the likes of France, Russia, and Germany to actually be able to direct the country....

Of course, this should be done by the Iraqi people.

[orange]

How can we expect Iraqis to rule themselves democratically? Won't there be too much ethnic/religious rivalary based on the years of hardships faced by the minorities?

[Inverse Icarus]

Originally posted by orange
How can we expect Iraqis to rule themselves democratically? Won't there be too much ethnic/religious rivalary based on the years of hardships faced by the minorities?

yes, but thats what the Bush peoples are trying to address. they keep sayig it. i dont know what they plan, and it'll be fun to watch

[BeBMan]

How can we expect Iraqis to rule themselves democratically? Won't there be too much ethnic/religious rivalary based on the years of hardships faced by the minorities?

Well, not now, but at some point they have to take over, or the liberation is just a joke. The question is how long is the transition time (and what is done in that time regarding security, stability, democratic reforms, rebuilding efforts etc) from some sort of US control over the country to a truly Iraqi government. If this time is too short the new structures probably are instable, if it is too long, the fear will rise amongst Iraqis that they never get a chance to run their own country.

It will also be interesting to see how close this new government its tied to the US.

[DanS]

It seems to me that everything is being built from the grass roots up. So Iraqi control will be a rolling process.

This seems to be an excellent way of going about it and makes the establishment of a proper government less pressing. It will be learning democracy on the job.

[Spiffor]

Democracy needs a specific education of the citizens to work properly, and the active promotion of the idea problems can be solved through debate rather than force.
This belief in the debate is what lacks dearly in installed despotisms without democracy. And this is the biggest problem in the establishment of an efficient democracy there. I really hope the Yanks won't forget the educational part when monitoring the democratic transition.

I fear they are too full of their values of freedom and democracy, and forget these values aren't spontaneously present in all societies.

[gsmoove23]

The UN needs to be heavily involved in the creation of a democratic state. Especially in an area as politically charged as Iraq where any power who has an inordinate amount of control will unavoidably serve their own interests in developing a government. I say this with US interests in mind, with american troops in Iraq we have to prove beyond a doubt that we aren't motivated by self-interest or greed, that the development of a truly free and independant Iraqi democracy is our only interest. This could hopefully help avoid some of the ugliness involved in occupying a country where most of the populace didn't particularly like us to begin with.

[My Wife Hates CIV]

what?! the UN is a joke. It means nothing anymore. This was on Fox News this morning.

"The captured documents also show that the Kremlin gave Saddam lists of assassins who could do "hits" in the West and that Iraq and Russia signed deals to share intelligence and help get "visas" so agents could go to Western countries, the London Telegraph reported.

One document also suggests that Russia believed Iraq had a nuclear-weapons program -- at the same time the Kremlin was publicly denying it.

The Arabic documents -- the first in a likely flood -- show cooperation between Russia and Iraq that's far more extensive and recent than previously reported. There were even copies of Christmas cards exchanged by Iraqi and Russian intelligence chiefs, the report adds."


The UN should play no part in Iraq - and probably will not. You have many veto power members who can't be trusted. This will, in time I think, destroy the UN. It's going to very soon be just another part of history.

[gsmoove23]

Funny thing about that, it was from an article that said all of the documents referred to anonymous sources. I guess because they were from the Moscow embassy that means they were from the Kremlin. Iraq couldn't have possibly been bankrolling spys there, nah.

Whether you believe the UN to be a joke or not, the idea that the US will promote democracy and freedom in Iraq without promoting its own interests first is a joke and this is quite obvious to the world already. We need an objective authority in Iraq.

[gunkulator]

Originally posted by My Wife Hates CIV
There were even copies of Christmas cards exchanged by Iraqi and Russian intelligence chiefs, the report adds."

I dunno. Smells like typically FoxNews hyperbole. Do Muslims even celebrate Christmas? AFAIK, they believe Jesus was a prophet, not the messiah.

[gunkulator]

Originally posted by gsmoove23
Whether you believe the UN to be a joke or not, the idea that the US will promote democracy and freedom in Iraq without promoting its own interests first is a joke and this is quite obvious to the world already.

US is one of the few nations in the history of the world that has left behind democracies after conquest. Most of the nations that comprise the UN have far more dubious records.

We need an objective authority in Iraq.

No such thing. The UN has many problems. One is that it provides overrepresentation for third world dictatorships. When an organization like the UN allows countries like Libya to chair the UN Human Rights Commission, you know something is wrong. I agree that the UN should have a role, but perhaps not a leading one.

[Edan]

Originally posted by gunkulator
I dunno. Smells like typically FoxNews hyperbole. Do Muslims even celebrate Christmas?

Umm, there are a lot of Arab Christians in Iraq, including Tariq Aziz, the (former) deputy Prime Minister.