IRAQ

UNWire: U.S. Should Give UN 'Real Authority,' Former CIA Chief Says

The United States needs to give the United Nations 'some real
authority' in Iraq to avoid the risk of alienating ordinary Iraqis, former CIA
Director Stansfield Turner suggested to U.N. Wire yesterday. Turner said in an
interview that if the Bush administration loses too much popular
support in Iraq, it will face difficulties overcoming snipers and other security
problems in Baghdad. The administration, he said, is having problems in
the United Nations now 'because they don't like the U.N. and they don't
like nation-building in general.' In addition, he said, the administration
'had a false impression of what Iraq reconstruction was going to be like.'
Referring to last week's report to the U.S. Congress on weapons of mass
destruction by lead U.S. investigator David Kay, Turner said, 'I'm just
aghast when I read what Mr. Kay says and then read what Mr. Bush says
about Mr. Kay and then read what Mr. (U.S. Secretary of State Colin) Powell
wrote yesterday about Mr. Kay's report.'