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US decides against larger UN role in Iraq S Rajagopalan Washington, August 15 http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_339568,001300180038.htm The US is understood to have finally decided against assigning a greater role for the United Nations in Iraq, thus rejecting the terms set by India, France and some other countries for deploying their troops in the war-ravaged country. While there has been no formal pronouncement yet on the subject, the New York Times quoted officials as saying that Washington would instead seek larger contingents from the 18 countries that are already represented in Iraq. India has stuck to its stand that the US should seek a clearer UN mandate on the issue before it could consider deploying troops. New Delhi・s position was reiterated by Defence Secretary Ajay Prasad during his recent meeting here with Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. France and Russia are among other major countries in the forefront of the demand for a larger UN role in Iraq. The Bush administration, however, is said to have reached a consensus that it would be better to work with countries that are already cooperating instead of involving the UN or other countries that opposed the war but are ：eager to exercise influence in a post-war Iraq；. ：The administration is not willing to confront going to the Security Council and saying, ．We really need to make Iraq an international operation・,； the NYT quoted an official as saying. US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is said to be among the prominent hardliners opposed to any dilution of America・s military authority in Iraq either through UN peacekeepers or through UN authorisation of forces from other countries. The US has 139,000 troops in Iraq, while the other 18 countries between them have sent 21,000 troops. This figure includes 11,000 British troops. The other countries represented include Spain, Italy, Norway, Poland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Romania and the Czech Republic. _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk