U.N. asked to lend a hand in Iraq

Getting the United Nations to do anything but pass flowery resolutions is like getting Boris the hamster to scrub his own cage. According to today's Washington Post, after three years of urging the U.N. to step up and have a greater role in hammering out the sectarian conflict that's made Iraq a mess, the U.S. and UK will push for a vote at the Security Council on a resolution to invite the U.N. to the party. Updating the WaPo article, a source at the State Department tells me this is unlikely to happen Thursday as hoped.

Looking at a copy of the draft resolution, it seeks to extend the mandate for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq for twelve months to "advise, support, and assist" the government of Iraq on solving political strife (like, perhaps, all the Sunnis walking out of the Cabinet), elections, regional dialogue, reintegrating former militia members, conducting a census, and resolving boundary disputes, like Kurdistan (which is best decided within Iraq before Turkey, its elections now in the past, decides it wants to invade). Not to mention, Kurdistan has been the model for economic development in Iraq, but terrorists are now exporting their bombings to Irbil.

The resolution also calls for member states to pony up the material support to back the UNAMI, and asks for quarterly progress reports to the council. The U.N. is offering to boost its staff in Baghdad from 65 to 95 by October.

I really hope the U.N. will step up and lend a hand in this humanitarian crisis -- and not like they "help" in southern Lebanon, where "peacekeeping force" means peacefully watching as Hezbollah rearms right in front of your eyes.