The UN is against Elections in Iraq

The UN has opposed intervention in Iraq for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was the oil for food scandal. Why should the UN help Iraq, failure can be used against the UN's true enemy, the United States. See below

BAGHDAD -- Iraq's interim government complained yesterday that the United Nations is not doing enough to help prepare for January elections, saying the organization has sent fewer election workers than it did when tiny East Timor voted to secede from Indonesia. "It is unfortunate that the contribution and participation of U.N. employees in this process is not up to expectations," Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told reporters. U.S. and Iraqi forces have stepped up operations seeking to curb insurgent violence, so that Iraqi voters throughout the country can choose a new transitional government in January. But Mr. Zebari complained that the United Nations has not sent enough election experts to help prepare for the voting. He said the number of U.N. workers expected to help in the election was far smaller than the 300 workers the United Nations sent for the 1999 independence referendum in East Timor. Iraq has a population of more than 25 million, whereas East Timor's population is estimated to be between 800,000 and 1 million.
The United Nations pulled its international staff out of the country a year ago after bombings at its Baghdad headquarters killed 22 persons, including the top U.N. envoy, Sergio Viera de Mello.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has since allowed a team to return to help with elections but imposed a ceiling of 35 non-Iraqi staffers. In the meantime, the United Nations is training Iraqis outside the country, so they can return and instruct other Iraqis on how to run an election. Mr. Annan said Tuesday in London that he had sought to form a U.N. brigade to guard U.N. workers and facilities so more staffers could be sent in, but complained that he had gotten no offers of troops. U.N. officials in New York said yesterday that Fiji was the only nation to respond to Mr. Annan's request and would send 130 soldiers to Iraq next month to protect senior staff and U.N. offices. Since the bombings at the U.N. headquarters a year ago, attacks on foreigners have grown worse. CARE International suspended operations in Iraq yesterday, a day after the aid group's director for Iraq, Margaret Hassan, was abducted. Her family said yesterday they have received no demands from the kidnappers. In other developments yesterday, Staff Sgt. Ivan L. "Chip" Frederick, 38, pleaded guilty to five charges stemming from the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. Sgt. Frederick, the highest-ranking soldier charged in the abuse case, was expected to be sentenced today.