PHYLLIS BENNIS
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President Bush claimed today that “Brahimi made the decisions” regarding the makeup of the new Iraqi governing body, which he described as a step toward “freedom and democracy.” A fellow at the Institute for Policy
Studies and author of the book “Calling the Shots: How Washington Dominates
Today’s UN,” Bennis said today: “White House pressure on Lakhdar Brahimi
has been relentless. But the UN envoy’s collapse under U.S. pressure, giving in to the U.S.-selected and U.S.-controlled Governing Council’s choice in selecting the prime minister and other top officials of the interim government, shocked even those observers accustomed to U.S. domination of the global body. If Brahimi was ultimately unable to impose the UN’s will on the U.S. and the recalcitrant Governing Council to appoint non-political technocrats to run the country and prepare for elections in 2005, he could have acknowledged that failure and withdrawn. The result would almost certainly have been a U.S. ‘transfer of power’ to the Governing Council itself, which would have been widely and appropriately recognized as undemocratic, illegal, and illegitimate. Instead, there are now Governing Council members and their minions in all the top positions of the interim government, but with the illusion of international credibility providing a United Nations ‘bluewashing’ of the process….”