The United Nations Security Council voted 14-0 on Thursday to adopt a resolution that "welcomes the establishment of the broadly representative Governing Council of Iraq on 13 July, 2003."

The adoption is a compromise.

The United States aims to push through a UN mandate that will further clear the way for Iraq's reconstruction.

Although UN Resolution 1483, passed in May, gave it effective control over Iraq, there are countries that feel uneasy about having contact with an entity unauthorized by the United Nations.

And some Iraqis doubt the authority of the Governing Council, whose establishment in July was followed by mass protests, in which the council was called the "puppet" of the United States. Some of Iraq's neighbours have been equally sceptical.

Taking a pragmatic attitude, other security council members have agreed to the draft resolution to speed up reconstruction for the sake of the welfare of the Iraqi people.

More important, the resolution gave an initial 12-month mandate to the new UN Assistance Mission for Iraq.

It puts the UN, which has been bypassed by the United States in its war with Iraq, "back in the game."

However, the UN can only play a limited role. And the United States is not willing to see a rising UN influence in Iraq. On Wednesday, John Negroponte, US ambassador to the UN, said the US draft measure does not have any kind of "broader" implications.

This evinces the US ambition to continue to keep Iraq under its full control.

The legality of the control itself, however, is doubtful as it is founded on the basis of an illegal war unauthorized by the UN.

History cannot be undone, but it does not mean that what happened in the past can become naturally justified with the passage of time.

What the United States should do now is to let the UN play the central role in reconstruction and democratization of Iraq.

(China Daily   August 18, 2003)