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The Bush administration seems to be doing a slight about-face on issues concerning Iraq. Bush is asking for a new United Nations resolution to authorize an international force to stabilize postwar Iraq.

Might this change of pace have anything to do with the upcoming election in 2004?

Last February Bush was adamant that the United States would go to Iraq with or without U.N. backing. Now, although troops and civilians continue to die and major combat operations are over, Bush is calling for U.N. support to restore peace to the war torn country and with good reason. The United States cannot restore stability on its own. Had the Bush administration waited for a resolution to send a multinational force to Iraq in the first place, this second resolution would prove unnecessary.

The problem is that by invading Iraq last February, without the support of many major European countries, the Bush administration may have alienated those he now seeks help from.

It is highly unlikely that countries such as France, Germany, Russia and Turkey will have a change of heart and send troops to Iraq to help the United States keep the peace. There is also the question of well-trained soldiers from other countries being available for this kind of mission. Not that a second resolution, if passed, would make a difference in Iraq anyway.

What the Bush administration is trying to do now is groom its platform for re-election. If the administration were to get a resolution passed, with support from the United Nations, it would be a major political victory for Bush. The president could claim to voters that he brought together many nations to rebuild and bring freedom to the people of Iraq and deflect criticism of his domestic policies. Bush would also be able to assert that his foreign policy was a success during his first term, and would certainly campaign on the platform that he was able to unite the nations of the world for the betterment of the Iraqi people.

The problem is that many people may not have died had a first resolution been passed last February. So with the Democratic Party beginning to churn its campaign engine, the question must be asked, “Is this a political maneuver by Bush and his team to tidy up his foreign policy record or does Bush really want the United Nations help to clean up the mess he made in Iraq?”

This is a staff editorial from the Daily Lobo at the University of New Mexico.
This editorial was distributed by U-Wire.