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4.25.04 Bush's Iraq + U.N. Strategy

I see the freight train coming. The U.S. wants desperately to get out of holding the bag in Iraq. There's that June 30th deadline to be met and an election to be won. Now that the populace is in revolt and the Iraqi Governing Council have proven themselves to be inept and corrupt, the Bush administration needs a scapegoat: the U.N.

The Bushies have done nothing but vilify the U.N. and right-wingers are jumping with glee over the food-for-oil scandal.

I'm too old to believe in a change of heart.

Suddenly, the U.N. is going to play a "vital role" and we're all a little suspicious. The Guardian Unlimited has caught the scent:

It is clear that both President George Bush and Tony Blair are keen to shift the burden to the UN, and both their governments have repeatedly invoked the name of [U.N. Special Envoy] Brahimi in the last two weeks, talking about the UN's 'vital role'. The intense anti-American feeling of Iraqis, particularly in Falluja, has made Bush and Paul Bremer, his proconsul in Baghdad, more anxious to invoke the UN as a power which will be more acceptable to the Iraqis - particularly with the prospect of continuing American casualties during an election campaign.

Here's the playbook: The U.N. will be tossed the hot potato. They will have no money and no real authority. The U.S. military will continue to report to the Pentagon and will do as it pleases, only now under the radar. I suspect the Bushies will also stay in charge of handing out contracts (since clearly the U.N. screwed up the last time.) Bush will strut around with his "we stayed the course" rhetoric. Iraq will continue on its course from bad to worse, but Bush will have secured his re-election. The U.N. will find itself increasingly in the crosshairs of scorn. During the Bush second term, Iraq will once again be invaded, this time crushed to smithereens, with no pretense of "democratization" because they will have proven themselves unworthy. In the process, the U.N. will also finally be crushed.

A perfect and perfectly cynical strategy. When will Colin Powell find his balls and start squawking?

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