U.N. Chief Backs Iraqi Council

Annan Urges Support for U.S. Creation

Monday, July 21, 2003; Page A01

BAGHDAD, July 20 -- U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has given a report to members of the U.N. Security Council urging them to endorse the new Governing Council created by the U.S.-led occupation authority in Iraq, calling it "a broadly representative partner with whom the United Nations and the international community at large can engage."

Annan's recommendation, which was delivered to Security Council members Friday but is not to be released to the public until Monday, is an important show of support for the Governing Council, a 25-member body whose members were selected by the occupation authority to assume responsibility for numerous day-to-day tasks.

Many Iraqis, including an estimated 10,000 people who turned out to protest in the city of Najaf today, have dismissed the council's members as American toadies, and some of Iraq's neighbors have been equally skeptical. But Annan's recommendation could help to garner Security Council approval of the new Iraqi body, a key step in building international legitimacy and recruiting much-needed foreign aid. The Security Council is scheduled to hear a report Tuesday from Annan's special representative in Iraq, Brazilian diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello, and is likely to decide shortly after that whether to support the Governing Council.

As the Governing Council began its second week today by addressing several thorny policy issues, two U.S. soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division were killed when rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire struck their convoy near Tal Afar, a town about 240 miles north of Baghdad and west of Mosul, military officials said. A third soldier was injured in the early-morning incident, which took place far from the area around the capital where most attacks have occurred, the officials said.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20598-2003Jul20.html?nav=hptop_tb

of what was said just yesterday?

they can re-arrange the chairs on the deck of the titanic all they want, but the security council isnt going to agree to anything, until Junior gives up the booty.

Regarding todays casualties, i saw an earlier report that stated the soldier died in the vehicle accident, that mentioned his vehicle "flipped over".