NEW YORK -- To rebuild Iraq after the ouster of Saddam Hussein, the Bush administration wanted control and it wanted international help on U.S. terms. A difficult few days of personal diplomacy at the United Nations last week confirmed that President Bush cannot have both, so he has settled for control.
Neither the United Nations nor the Iraqi Governing Council will have much authority over events in Iraq anytime soon, the White House has decided. Policymakers consider the Iraqi overhaul too complex and the stakes too high to risk surrendering enough responsibility to win significant amounts of fresh international assistance.
That calculation, rooted in the politics of Iraq and Iowa alike, leaves Bush and his key aides largely where they were on the war's opening night: calling the shots, essentially alone.
"They're on their own," a U.N. official said. "It's just between them and the American taxpayer."
Putin said Saturday that any Russian contribution to Iraq's reconstruction would depend on a U.N. resolution sought by the United States to encourage other countries to offer money and peacekeeping troops. Along with France and Germany, Russia is demanding a greater role for the United Nations in Iraq and a speedier timetable for ending the U.S. occupation.
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``I like him. He's a good fellow to spend quality time with,'' Bush said, standing in the warm sun of Camp David after two days of talks.
Four US soldiers were meanwhile wounded in two separate bomb attacks, a military spokesman said.
Sergeant Mark Ingham said an attack with an "improvised explosive device" (IED) occurred about 11:00 am in the town of Iskandariya, 45 kilometers (nearly 30 miles) south of the capital. Their conditions were not immediately known.
Ingham said another two soldiers were wounded at Taji, 10 kilometers north of Baghdad, by an IED explosion at 9:45 am and were evacuated to the 28th Combat Support Hospital for treatment.
After long insisting no more US soldiers were required to secure Iraq, the Pentagon said Saturday that 10,000 troops were being mobilized in two national guard brigades for a force rotation and it put 5,000 more on standby as US calls for international troop contributions go unheeded.
One example is the Coalition Provisional Authority.
"CPA stands for the Condescending and Patronizing Americans," a Baghdad diplomat told Newsweek.
"So there they are, sitting in their palace: 800 people, 17 of whom speak Arabic. One is an expert on Iraq."
What happened to the Iraq experts? According to Newsweek, Rumsfeld ordered 16 of the 20 Pentagon staffers picked to go to Baghdad be cut because they were "Arab apologists," had positive opinions of the United Nations (news - web sites) or other opinions not acceptable to the neo-conservatives running the US government.
Rumsfeld's interference "got so bad that even doctors sent to restore medical services had to be anti-abortion," a member of the original team said.
SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea must be confident that tensions over North Korea's nuclear ambitions will be resolved peacefully before Seoul considers sending troops to Iraq, South Korea's president said Wednesday.
Washington has asked South Korea, a major Asian ally, to dispatch thousands of combat troops to help American forces secure stability in postwar Iraq.
Talks to end the standoff over North Korea's suspected development of nuclear weapons are stalling over strident differences between Washington and Pyongyang, and South Korea wants the United States to make a firm commitment to a peaceful solution.
"Prior to making any decision on the troop dispatch, it is extremely important to arrive at a positive outlook for and conviction in peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula," South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said in a speech marking Armed Forces Day.
