US agrees to international control of its troops in Iraq

Finally, the Bush Administration comes around to reality (at least in one respect):

The United States accepts that to avoid humiliating failure
in Iraq it needs to bring its forces quickly under international
control and speed the handover of power, Javier Solana, the European
Union foreign policy chief, has said. Decisions along these lines will
be made in the 'coming days', Mr Solana told The Independent.
The comments, signalling a major policy shift by the US, precede
President George Bush's state visit this week to London, during which
he and Tony Blair will discuss an exit strategy for forces in Iraq.

This is a necessary and overdue step. However, I remain skeptical about
the UN's ability to bring peace and democracy to Iraq. Their foray into
Cambodia in the mid 1990's was a disaster, and it seems to me that the
two situations are somewhat similar in several respects (read Off the Rails In Phnom Penh
for an excellent view into how badly the UN screwed up the Cambodian
socio-political landscape). Regardless - I have far more confidence in
the UN's nation building skills than I do in America's.

Posted by flow Frazao on November 17, 2003 at 12:09 PM | Permalink