Why the US needs the UN in Iraq

The chief US administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, claims that Iraq is "not a country is chaos and Baghdad is not a city in chaos," yet Washington is edging ever closer to asking for multilateral assistance from the UN. This article from BBC News says that Washington's stance is changing because of both domestic politics and the growing complexity of the situation in Iraq. At home, the Bush administration is increasingly eager to prevent Iraq from becoming an issue in the 2004 Presidential election. And in Iraq, operations are proving more costly and difficult than expected. "The fact is that the US needs others to come in with money and expertise," one scholar said and noted that Paul Bremer "blew the ship out of the water by revealing that the costs of reconstruction will be huge and cannot be covered by Iraqi oil exports." The United States and Coalition forces nevertheless remain firm about retaining control of the operation, insisting that multilateral assistance be limited to just that – assistance. – YaleGlobal