Bush attacked Iraq against the U.N. will, now is seeking its help

WASHINGTON, September 7 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - With his eyes on the November 2004 presidential election, U.S. President George W. Bush finally agreed to seek the U.N. more help in Iraq, and will lay out his change of heart to the American people in a rare primetime speech late Sunday, September 7.

As the cost of the Iraqi invasion continues to mount, and with U.S. troops there stretched thin, Bush has instructed Secretary of State Colin Powell to garner support for a new U.N. draft resolution that would pave the way for the deployment of a U.N.-mandated multi-national force in Iraq.

The Bush administration hopes the draft will offer some relief to the 140,000-odd U.S. troops deployed in the war-torn country as well as to the budgetary pressures being applied to the nation's finances, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The U.S. budget deficit is already set to hit 400 billion dollars this year.

Such factors have persuaded the Bush administration to turn to the U.N., which was sidelined when making the war decision, in an attempt to enlist fresh troops and money from other countries.

The move represents a turnaround in policy compared to the months leading up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, which Washington launched without a U.N. mandate and amid staunch opposition from the international community, including U.N. Security Council members.

It also comes as a new Time-CNN poll released Saturday, September 6, shows Bush's approval rating sliding to a new low of 52 percent, down nine percentage points compared with a May poll.

It is not clear what role the war will play in the upcoming presidential elections, an analyst told AFP.

"I rather doubt it will be the defining issue of the campaign," said Stephen Hess of the Washington-based Brookings Institution.

Bush has faced criticism of his Iraq policy from Democratic candidates readying themselves for next year's campaign for the White House.

But Hess said the issue is not hitting home with voters just yet.

"They don't really make a major difference in the voting booth unless it's a situation like Vietnam that's been going on for a very long time with many American casualties," he argued.

The White House, meanwhile, has denied reports of a "turnaround" with its newly-developed interest in the U.N.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan argued Friday, September 5, that the U.S. has "always sought the participation of the international community" in Iraq.

In turning towards the U.N., President Bush is also following a path that has been counseled by Republican lawmakers in Congress.

Arizona Senator John McCain - a 2000 presidential candidate who has just returned from a trip to Iraq - noted that the White House's change of heart is "a tacit admission that we don't have sufficient forces there to get the job done."

"We need additional troops, but specifically we need people who are in the area of economic development, military police, civil affairs. If we don't turn things around in the next few months, we're facing a very serious long-term problem," McCain added.

Failure In Iraq

Rumsfeld said the "(Iraq) war was never finished"

The change in U.S. policy in Iraq came as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld admitted the failure to wipe out Saddam Hussein loyalists may have sparked the security nightmare.

Rumsfeld, wrapping up a three-day inspection of Iraq Saturday evening, insisted the Iraqi people take more responsibility for security amid the chaos.

But he also acknowledged the litany of daily attacks on U.S. troops may have been rooted in the U.S. failure to chase down Saddam's forces during the invasion and to anticipate the type of problems it would face afterwards.

Before leaving Iraq for Afghanistan, Rumsfeld said, "One of the things that took place in this country that I think contributed to the circumstances we are in today - the security circumstance - was that the war was never finished.

"Most of the battles that took place were south. As Baghdad was approached, the forces north of Baghdad fought for a period but at some point melted into the countryside.

"As a result there are still Baathist elements that are there causing the security problem," Rumsfeld maintained.

Two surface-to-air missiles were fired at a U.S. military C-141 transport plane Saturday as it was taking off from Baghdad airport, hours before Rumsfeld's departure.

"This morning two SAMs were fired at a C-141 taking off from Baghdad airport," a senior US defense official said. "They detonated before they ever reached the plane."

Despite such close shaves, U.S. ground forces commander Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez insisted he had no need of reinforcements in Iraq.

Sanchez acknowledged that his forces had faced some 15 attacks a day over the past five days, but said that in half of those the assailants used mortars or remotely detonated bombs and never came close enough to be engaged.

Economic Worries

Aside from Iraq concerns, the U.S. economy is also fast becoming a focal point for Bush as he girds himself for next year's presidential campaign.

Friday, the Labor Department reported an unexpected 93,000 layoffs in August, contrary to Wall Street forecasts calling for a rise in employment.

The country's unemployment rate dipped slightly to 6.1 percent in August.

Ongoing layoffs are denting beneficial effects of Bush's economic plan, which has been largely constructed around tax cuts.

The Bush economic plan was criticized as a "miserable failure" by Democratic presidential hopeful, Dick Gephardt, this week.

However, in a bid to maintain the initiative, Bush announced the creation of a new deputy secretary for the hard-pressed manufacturing sector, which has borne the brunt of recent layoffs.

"In terms of proposals, he (Bush) is scraping the barrel," concluded Brookings' Hess.

Bush is due to address the nation, from the White House, about Iraq and his administration's campaign against terrorism, for about 15 minutes, starting at 8:30 pm (00h30 GMT Monday).