For the President*, the Least Painful Alternative

[kskiska]

By Dana Milbank

President Bush, in his decision to seek broader help in Iraq from the United Nations, has concluded that blue helmets are better than a black eye.

For months, the president and his administration have resisted the notion of sharing power in Iraq with the U.N. "blue helmets" -- part of officials' longstanding suspicion of the international body and particularly the notion that U.S. troops might answer to foreign generals.

But as more and more U.S. troops are killed in Iraq, and the number of car bombings and anti-America demonstrations there grow, the Bush administration concluded that principle alone will not suffice: The United States needs more help in Iraq.

(snip)

In the end, it was the least painful alternative. "In the long term, they don't have to eat too much crow," Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution said last night. "They can keep the military influence, and it's a smart way to get international help." But, he added, there will be an immediate cost: "In the short term, everybody like John Kerry can say, 'We pushed them into it,' and there will be some truth to that."

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17810-2003Sep3.html

[ixion]

1. don't have to eat too much crow?

they should be tried as war criminals... to hell with eating crow. :grr:

[priller]

2. This all assumes

that the UN and other nations will actually sign on to a plan that leaves the US in command. That remains to be seen, however.