(nypost.com)
BUSH WINS AT THE U.N.
June 9, 2004 --
Chalk up a huge win for Team Bush.
And, no less important, for the cause of freedom in the Middle East.
The U.N. Security Council yesterday — in a unanimous resolution — essentially ratified administration objectives and timetables in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The resolution virtually ensures that:
* Coalition forces will retain responsibility for maintaining order in Iraq.
* Iraqi independence will come on June 30, on schedule.
* Full elections will take place next year, as planned.
The Security Council, in other words, gave President Bush precisely what he had asked for all along — an endorsement of Saddam Hussein's ouster, and acquiescence in the establishment of a new order in Iraq.
And the Axis of Weasels — France, Russia and Germany — be damned.
To be sure, America and Great Britain will continue to bear the lion's share of the security load in Iraq.
Plus, France and Germany got language giving Iraq the right to veto participation in "sensitive offensive operations" involving the U.S.-led Coalition, while Russia won agreement on a call for an international conference to facilitate the transition.
But think of all that as face-saving rhetorical camouflage.
The details were spelled out in letters exchanged between Secretary of State Colin Powell and Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi — but nothing in the side letters changes the facts on the ground: The U.S.-led multinational force will continue to exert "all necessary measures" when it comes to maintaining order.
Significantly, the vote came on the opening day of the Group of Eight summit — the annual meeting of the world's leading economic powers — held this year at Sea Island, Ga.
And interim Iraqi President Ghazi Ajil al-Yawer will be sitting down to lunch today with the G-8 heads of state; no doubt his nation's economic future will be high on the list of topics to be discussed.
For the U.N. vote enhances the ability of Iraq to get needed economic assistance from the world community — in itself a ratification of the Bush administration's Iraq policies.
So, with security ensured by U.S. and British forces and reconstruction funds in the pipeline, things are looking up for Iraq — and, for the first time in three-plus decades, for the Iraqi people.
Bottom line: The unanimous Security Council resolution is vivid evidence that Iraq is progressing precisely as Bush outlined in his Army War College address two weeks ago.
The conflict is far from over, but Bush has once again demonstrated that while America and its Coalition allies welcome the assistance and cooperation of the United Nations, he will not allow that body to obstruct America's strategic objectives in the War on Terror.
That war is far from over, but yesterday's Security Council resolution represents a giant step down the road to a safer, more secure world.
Take a bow, Mr. President.
You've earned one
