POST-WAR IRAQ, STRAW OUT OF THE LOOP?: This Times Online article has some quotes by Jack Straw, the British Foreign Secretary, about the rebuilding if Iraq and potential future military campaigns. I don't think that it's likely that the US will desire military action against Syria or Iran, and so I take no issue with his statements on that issue, but I think that Mr. Straw may be out of the loop when it comes to the plans for rebuilding Iraq.
Mr Straw also insisted that the United Nations would have a key role in a post-war Iraq and that Iraqis, not foreigners, would run a new government.He said: "What we have agreed with the United States is that the post-conflict arrangements should be endorsed by the UN.
"They have got to be acceptable to the UN, and what we will be seeking is a representative government, an interim Iraqi authority, moving to a more representative government which is drawn from the Iraqi people.
"There could be advisers from other countries but there will not be foreign nationals running the Iraqi government, that is not the purpose of this action."
I have a feeling that the US won't be quite so eager to pander to the UN, and I think that it has already been decided by the US that we will indeed run the Iraqi government for a while at least. Maybe Mr. Straw is referring to some later time, but it seems virtually certain that the Iraqi government will be run by Americans for the foreseeable future.
