With the June 30 Handover Approaching, Neocons Try To Sabotage UN Role in Iraq

Today in Basra, Iraq some 800 supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr held a demonstration in which they alleged that the British were responsible for the multiple suicide bombings in Basra earlier this week. In those bombings, 68 people were killed including 20 young children whose school bus was blown up as they traveled to school. The protesters carried signs saying that the people and the police are united under a religious imperative. Meanwhile, as fighting in the Iraqi city of Fallujah has intensified in recent days, it also appears that US forces are gearing up for a major offensive in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf, which is a stronghold of Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi army.
The Associated Press today quotes senior military officers saying the order to attack Najaf will be made "at the very highest levels of the U.S. government," an indication that President Bush may have the final word on whether soldiers there begin an offensive.

Meanwhile, there are rumors that Bush himself made the decision that Fallujah would have to be massively punished for the desecration of the bodies of the US mercenaries killed there, and that Gen. John Abizaid strongly agreed. The Marines have now reportedly given the people of Fallujah just "days" to negotiate a final settlement, with an implied "or else."

As the killings continue in Iraq, a controversy is brewing at the United Nations over allegations of corruption within the so-called oil-for-food program. The former head of that program, Benon Sevan, has been accused of taking payment in the form of an oil allotment from Saddam Hussein's government. Sevan denies the allegation. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said yesterday that if U.N. staff are found to be guilty "we will deal with them very severely."

These allegations come as the deadline approaches for what the Bush administration calls the handover of sovereignty to Iraqis on June 30th. This week, senior State Department and Defense officials told the Senate and House Armed Services Committees that the new Iraqi interim government scheduled to take control on July 1 will have only 'limited sovereignty' and no authority over United States and other military forces already there.

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Tariq Ali , author of several books including Bush in Babylon: The Recolonization of Iraq and Clash of Fundamentalisms.
Ian Williams, UN correspondent for The Nation and author of the forthcoming book Deserter: George Bush, Soldier of Fortune.

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