June 8, 2004
Reuters

UN Council Unanimously Adopts Iraq Resolution

by Evelyn Leopold

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council voted 15-0 on Tuesday to adopt a U.S.-British resolution that formally ends the occupation of Iraq on June 30 and authorizes U.S.-led troops to keep the peace.

In a packed council chamber, the 15-nation body endorsed a "sovereign interim government" in Iraq, . . .

The U.N. resolution attempts to pave the way for democracy by giving a timetable for elections -- no later than Jan. 31, 2005. It puts Iraq in charge of its oil proceeds and calls for the United Nations to help with elections, a constitution and many other tasks.

CONTROL OF U.S. FORCES AT ISSUE

Control of the 160,000 U.S.-led troops was the most contentious issue in the resolution, which authorizes a multinational force under American command to "use all necessary measures" to prevent violence.

The United States pledged "partnership" and coordination with Iraq's leaders but did not agree to give Baghdad a virtual veto over major military offensives as France, Germany, Algeria and others had wanted.

However, the resolution gives the Iraqi interim government the right to order U.S. troops to leave at any time and makes clear the mandate of the international force will expire by the end of January 2006. . . .

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"UN Provides Cover for US Occupation, Sanctions Colonialism ," The Wisdom Fund, May 22, 2003

"Sham 'Sovereignty' Offered: U.S. Tightens Grip On Iraq's Future," The Wisdom Fund, May 13, 2004

"The Iraq Sovereignty 'Charade'," The Wisdom Fund, June 2, 2004

[Iyad Allawi, Iraq's new Prime Minister, last night expressed support for the presence of foreign troops on Iraqi soil as a security guarantee--Anne Penketh, "Iraqi government given power to send home troops," Independent, June 5, 2004]

[Two acid tests will determine whether any Iraqi regime is truly sovereign and independent of US control: the ability to order all US forces out of Iraq; and reaffirmation of Iraq's active support of the Palestinian cause.--Eric Margolis, "THE WHITE HOUSE FIB FACTORY GOES INTO HIGH GEAR," ericmargolis.com, June 7, 2004]

Jonathan Steele and Patrick Wintour, "US bans cleric from Iraq elections," The Guardian, June 8, 2004

[Dr. Allawi's group, the Iraqi National Accord, used car bombs and other explosive devices smuggled into Baghdad from northern Iraq--Joel Brinkley, "Ex-C.I.A. Aides Say Iraq Leader Helped Agency in 90's Attacks," New York Times, June 9, 2004]

[Kurdish officials were unhappy at the text's failure to endorse explicitly the Transitional Administrative Law (TAL), which guaranteed Kurdish rights in a federal Iraq.--Mark Turner, Gareth Smyth and Guy Dinmore, "Iraq resolution wins unanimous UN vote," Financial Times, June 9, 2004]

[. . . the lack of any real definition of a UN role in Iraq, along with continuing limits on the abilities of a new Iraqi government, mean the US will remain largely in charge.--Howard LaFranchi, "What UN resolution on Iraq will accomplish," The Christian Science Monitor, June 9, 2004

[It will be a democracy with controlled elections, a repressive state security apparatus, and a "free market" economy that favors US interests and the Iraqi economic elite.--Jim Tarbell and Roger Burbach, "The New Baghdad Triumvirate: Allawi, Negroponte and the NED," CounterPunch, June 9, 2004]

Patrick Cockburn, "The Iraqi Street Speaks: New Government Made Up of CIA Pawns," CounterPunch, June 10, 2004

Edward Cody, "Iraqis Put Contempt For Troops On Display," Washington Post, June 12, 2004

[Brahimi had been frustrated for some weeks, feeling he had been sidelined by the United States in the process of setting up the Iraqi interim government.--Shlomo Shamir, "UN sources: Iraq envoy Brahimi announced his resignation," Haaretz, June 13, 2004]

[A U.S.-sponsored poll shows Iraqis have lost confidence in the occupying authorities--and that the vast majority of Iraqis want Coalition troops out of the country 'immediately'--Michael Hirsh, "Grim Numbers," Newsweek, June 15, 2004]

[The UN Security Council resolution passed on June 8 requires the new government to satisfy all outstanding obligations against the Development Fund for Iraq made before June 30, leaving the new interim Iraqi government with no choice but to honor the Program Review Board's questionable expenditures.--"CPA RUSHES TO GIVE AWAY BILLIONS IN IRAQI OIL REVENUES," Iraq Revenue Watch, June 16, 2004]

[The Bush administration has decided to take the unusual step of bestowing on its own troops and personnel immunity from prosecution by Iraqi courts for killing Iraqis or destroying local property after the occupation ends and political power is transferred to an interim Iraqi government,--Robin Wright, "U.S. Immunity In Iraq Will Go Beyond June 30," Washington Post, June 24, 2004]

[If the occupation chief Paul Bremer and his staff were capable of embarrassment, they might be a little sheepish about having spent only $3.2bn of the $18.4bn Congress allotted - the reason the reconstruction is so disastrously behind schedule. At first, Bremer said the money would be spent by the time Iraq was sovereign, but apparently someone had a better idea: parcel it out over five years so Ambassador John Negroponte can use it as leverage. With $15bn outstanding, how likely are Iraq's politicians to refuse US demands for military bases and economic "reforms"?--Naomi Klein, "The multibillion robbery the US calls reconstruction: The shameless corporate feeding frenzy in Iraq is fuelling the resistance," The Guardian, June 26, 2004]

[Among the most controversial orders is the enactment of an elections law that gives a seven-member commission the power to disqualify political parties and any of the candidates they support.--Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Walter Pincus, "U.S. Edicts Curb Power Of Iraq's Leadership," Washington Post, June 27, 2004]

Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Mike Allen, "U .S. Transfers Political Authority in Iraq," Washington Post, June 28, 2004

Thalif Deen, "Regime Change in Iraq a Sham, Say Mideast Experts," Inter Press Service, June 28, 2004

Robert Fisk, "The Pitiful Restoration of "Sovereignty"," Independent, June 29, 2004

Haifa Zangana, "Iraqis Have Lived This Lie Before," Guardian, June 29, 2004

[This is the war we are losing. And to win this struggle, the United States needs to do three things that may go against the political interests of both parties: Stand up for justice for the Palestinians. Remove our imperial presence. Cease to intervene in their internal affairs.--Patrick J. Buchanan, "The war we're losing," World News Daily, June 30, 2004]

Seumas Milne, "The resistance campaign is Iraq's real war of liberation: The sham of this week's handover will do nothing to end the uprising," Guardian, July 1, 2004

Rory McCarthy, "US will override Baghdad in war on terrorism," Guardian, July 1, 2004

Mitch Potter, "Shades of Saddam in Iraq terror laws," Toronto Star, July 8, 2004

Paul McGeough, "Allawi shot inmates in cold blood: witnesses," Sidney Morning Herald, July 17, 2004

[The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is supporting the new service, which was unveiled by Allawi . . .

the CIA's Baghdad station has become the largest in the agency's history, bigger even than the station in Saigon during the Vietnam War. The overall mission in Iraq - originally planned for 85 personnel - presently numbers 500--"Back to the past in Iraq," Jane's Information Group, July 22, 2004]

[Allawi blew the brains out of the chained men at Baghdad's Al-Almariyah security center.--Chris Floyd, "Hard Reign," Moscow Times, July 23, 2004]

[It is precisely the political strength of the Shia majority that the Allawi government and the Bush Administration fear and wish to destroy. That is why they launched the raid to capture Sadr.--Milan Rai, "Slaughter in Najaf: Bush Ignited This Insurgency, Not al-Sadr," CounterPunch, August 13, 2004]

Anton La Guardia and David Rennie, "Iraq has its sovereignty, but America is still running the show," Telegraph, September 23, 2004

[ . . . it was a total myth, fraud, lie, and outright propaganda for the Bush Jr. administration to maintain that it was somehow magically transferring "sovereignty" to its puppet Interim Government of Iraq during the summer of 2004. Under the laws of war, sovereignty is never transferred from the defeated sovereign such as Iraq to a belligerent occupant such as the United States. This is made quite clear by paragraph 353 of U.S. Army Field Manual 27-10 (1956): "Belligerent occupation in a foreign war, being based upon the possession of enemy territory, necessarily implies that the sovereignty of the occupied territory is not vested in the occupying power. Occupation is essentially provisional."--Francis A. Boyle, "Iraq and the Laws of War," International Clearing House, October 14, 2005]

["The presence of a massive U.S. embassy - by far the largest in the world - co-located in the Green Zone with the Iraqi government is seen by Iraqis as an indication of who actually exercises power in their country,"--Charles J. Hanley, "U.S. Building Massive Embassy in Baghdad," Associated Press, April 14, 2006]

[The Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, announced in Egypt that the construction of a wall around the Sunni district of al-Adhamiyah would stop, but without effect. An Iraqi army spokesman simply said that the Prime Minister had been misled. The Iraqi Defence Ministry is largely under American control - one senior Iraqi army official who obeyed a direct order from Mr al-Maliki late last year found himself jailed by US forces.--Patrick Cockburn, "The Great Wall of Baghdad may be going up, but there's still carnage on the streets," Independent, May 6, 2007]

[The US Army tried to kill or capture Muqtada al-Sadr, the widely revered Shia cleric, after luring him to peace negotiations at a house in the holy city of Najaf, which it then attacked, according to a senior Iraqi government official.--Patrick Cockburn, " Secret US plot to kill Al-Sadr," Independent, May 21, 2007]