April 9, 2003 - The Daily Texan: Former Morocco Country Director Richard Holbrooke says not to discount the importance of the United Nations in Iraq reconstruction process
Former Morocco Country Director Richard Holbrooke says not to discount the importance of the United Nations in Iraq reconstruction process
Read and comment on this story from The Daily Texan on former Peace Corps Morocco Country Director Richard Holbrooke who says we should not discount the importance of the United Nations in the Iraq reconstruction process. In a speech Tuesday night, Holbrooke praised the Bush administration's foreign policy and military maneuvers, but criticized the slowing of humanitarian aid and weakening of the United Nations. Read the story at:
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Former U.N. ambassador addresses war Holbrooke stresses impact of U.N. on reconstruction By Erin Keck (Daily Texan Staff) April 09, 2003
Divisions over who should rebuild post-war Iraq seem as wide as the Atlantic, but former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke said coalition leaders should not discount the importance of the United Nations in the reconstruction process.
In a speech to an audience that nearly filled the LBJ auditorium Tuesday night, Holbrooke praised the Bush administration's foreign policy and military maneuvers, but criticized the slowing of humanitarian aid and weakening of the United Nations.
"The U.N. is a flawed institution, but it is indispensable to national interests over time. That isn't to say that the U.N. makes American policy," Holbrooke said.
Holbrooke has been part of the U.S. diplomatic arsenal since 1962, and served as the lead negotiator in the Dayton Peace Accords that ended the war in Bosnia in 1995. In addition to being a giant in the realm of foreign affairs, Holbrooke has also been an author, magazine editor, director of the Peace Corps and an investment banker.
The question of who will set up a working government after the war is currently the most complicated issue, Holbrooke said.
"If it happens at all, it will take many years. Meanwhile, we will be in charge of the country and have, as Washingtonians put it, ownership," Holbrooke said. "And a tremendous battle is raging over that as well."
President Bush met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Northern Ireland Tuesday to iron out differences in their visions for rebuilding Iraq's government and infrastructure. Both said the United Nations should play a "vital role," but the exact terms of U.N. involvement are unclear.
But Bush's opponents and even his allies, including Blair, want the United Nations to play the lead role in rebuilding the war-torn nation and exit as quickly as possible.
"This new Iraq that will emerge is not to be run either by us or, indeed, by the U.N. That is a false choice," Blair said Tuesday. "It will [be] run by the Iraqi people."
Holbrooke said that while the United States should seek to patch up quarrels with countries that desire U.N. leadership in the region, American-led troops should continue to control the security of Iraq until the country is stable.
"Anyone who thinks that security should be turned over to any organization, such as the U.N. peacekeeping forces, doesn't understand the political reality or the capabilities of U.N. peacekeepers. They are not very good," Holbrooke said.
Betty Sue Flowers, director of the LBJ Library, said Holbrooke's speech was timely in light of the major foreign affairs issues the United States is currently handling.
"I thought he had more to say about this time in America than almost anybody. He has peacekeeping skills, diplomatic skills - everything," Flowers said.
Holbrooke's visit was sponsored by Friends of the LBJ Library, who paid Holbrooke "a nominal fee" to speak at their monthly speaking series.
The Associated Press contributed
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