Sharing to the beat of drums

The fate of Iraq is decided in Down

Yesterday in Belfast (Northern Ireland) at the residence of British Prime Minister Tony Blair - Hillsborough Castle in County Down - an Anglo-American summit was held to decide the fate of the still unconquered Iraq.

The formal reason for the “summit meeting” was the fifth anniversary of the 1998 agreement on the Ulster settlement (the so-called Good Friday Agreement). That is why Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern and the leaders of Northern Irish political parties were invited to the summit. One cannot count on George Bush to make a serious personal contribution to the Ulster process. As it turned out, the American leader was even sure that in Northern Ireland he would stop in Dublin, Bush announced this to journalists (although this is not Northern Ireland at all, but the capital of a completely different country - independent Ireland. - Ed. ).

“The time has come to think about the post-war development of Iraq and how to create a government with the participation of all elements of Iraqi society,” US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who accompanied George W. Bush, commented on the summit. The parties disagreed on the role of the UN in post-war Iraq.

The United States is convinced that the UN is only capable of playing the role of an “adviser” in a settlement, and even then in the humanitarian sphere, but London would like, under the auspices of the international community, to hold an all-Iraqi conference to elect the leadership of Iraq. A UN mandate could legitimize, if not the war, then at least the post-war structure of Iraq. In order to smooth out the difference in the approaches of the allies, Blair's press service noted that “the UN has never claimed to govern Iraq,” and at the final press conference, George Bush promised that the UN would be given a “significant role.” Blair spoke of her “significant role.” Both did not specify their approaches.

The White House and Downing Street are united in one thing: the new government of Iraq will include Saddam's emigrant oppositionists and loyal Iraqis who lived in their homeland. It has not been announced when the occupation authorities will hand over their powers to the “new Iraqis.” Palestinian-Israeli problems were not left out of the summit either. But Bush promised to announce the “road map” for a phased settlement of the Middle East conflict only after the formation of the Palestinian cabinet. Bush really liked Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.

The summit outraged pacifists of the Stop the War coalition, who gathered two miles from Blair's residence in the town of Hillsborough. They chanted anti-war slogans to the beat of drums. In their opinion, the negotiations took place in the Northern Irish wilderness in order to “avoid a powerful wave of pacifism.” A handful of militaristic demonstrators found themselves in a clear minority.

Katerina LABETSKAYA