Sydney: In a policy shift, the United States is now willing to let the United
Nations play a role in running post-war Iraq, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander
Downer said on April 2 from Washington.
Downer, who met on April 1 with Secretary of State Colin Powell and other senior US
officials, said those within the administration of President George W Bush who
opposed any UN role in Iraq had lost the argument.
Key US officials remain angered over the UN's failure to adopt a new resolution
authorising the war to oust Saddam Hussein and had fought to prevent the world body
gaining a role in Iraq's reconstruction, he said.
"But I think that view, if it hasn't changed, that argument has been won by those
who believe there should be a role for the UN," Downer told the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation radio.
"I think the idea of a United Nations special representative or special co-ordinator
is one they feel comfortable with as well," he said, acknowledging though that the
United States would "inevitably" control Iraq for an interim period after the war
before handing authority back to Iraqis.
"The Americans feel it would be much better to move from an American occupation to
an Iraqi administration as quickly as possible," Downer said.
The minister said he pressed his case in Washington for Australian economic role in
post-war Iraq, notably in agriculture. He was due to visit the United Nations in New
York on April 2.
