WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday vowed that America won’t turn over control of Iraq to the United Nations – and a French veto – after Saddam Hussein is ousted.
“We didn’t take on this huge burden with our coalition partners not to be able to have a significant dominating control over how it unfolds in the future,” Powell told a House subcommittee. “We would not support . . . essentially handing everything over the U.N. for someone designated by the U.N. to suddenly become in charge of the whole operation,” Powell added.
Powell’s tough talk signaled that the Bush administration is ready to take a hard line with the United Nations after it failed to get tough with Saddam or enforce 17 resolutions demanding he disarm. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who last night began a quickie summit with President Bush at Camp David, also signaled that he doesn’t foresee any quick turnover of Iraq to any kind of U.N. administration.
