Iraq too dangerous for UN, Annan says

UNITED NATIONS -- Secretary General Kofi Annan said yesterday that the United Nations will operate from bases in Cyprus and Jordan to help stabilize Iraq because it is still too dangerous to return to the country full time.

"Mounting insecurity cannot be solved through military means alone. A political solution is required," Annan said in a 26-page report that laid out how the UN can help.

The first step, he wrote, is to include some of the Iraqis who have been excluded from the political process so they have a stake in the country's future. He also urged the US-led forces to tone down their use of lethal force "even in the face of deliberate and provocative terrorist attacks," to undercut popular support for insurgents.

The UN is under great pressure from Washington to lend its legitimacy and expertise to the transition to Iraqi self-rule, scheduled for the end of June. But Annan is quietly resisting greater UN involvement until sovereignty actually returns to Iraqi hands.

Annan said his primary concern is safety. "I cannot afford to compromise the security of our international and national staff," said Annan, who withdrew foreign employees from Iraq in early November after attacks on the UN and other foreign aid agencies.

"Under the circumstances, it is difficult to envisage the United Nations operating with a large number of international staff inside Iraq in the near future, unless there is an unexpected and significant improvement in the overall security situation," he said.

But Annan is just as concerned with protecting the integrity of the UN, which was damaged by the failure of diplomacy before the war and its diminished position afterward. Bush administration officials said they were confused by Annan's demand to play a vital role in Iraq while refusing to return until security improves.

"We encourage the secretary general to continue thinking about the return of international staff. It's hard to play a vital role when the organization is not on the ground inside the country, " said Richard A. Grenell, spokesman for John D. Negroponte, the US ambassador to the UN.

The report seems to be an appeal to history, establishing that the UN was poised to play a key role in Iraq before it became a target itself in August, but was rebuffed by the US-led coalition. Now that Washington is pressing hard for the United Nations to come back into the country -- and perhaps even take charge of the controversial political transition -- the report seethes with barely suppressed resentment.

Annan wrote that the UN was committed to helping the Iraqi people, but he will not lay his staff's lives on the line. "I shall be asking myself questions such as whether the substance of the role allocated to the United Nations is proportionate to the risks we are being asked to take," he wrote.

The report details a number of tasks that the United Nations can start doing right away from outside the country.