Annan: Nations Want U.N. Umbrella in Iraq

UNITED NATIONS - Many nations want a U.N. umbrella on the U.S.-led operation in Iraq (news - web sites) before they commit troops, and Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) said Wednesday that he would support a new U.N. resolution to help pull the necessary nations together.

Four months after the bitterly divided U.N. Security Council refused to back the war in Iraq, the U.S.-led occupation is facing guerrilla-style opposition and continuing problems in restoring security and basic services. Increasingly, the United States is looking to the United Nations (news - web sites), a body some U.S. officials had dismissed as irrelevant.

Annan told a news conference that the message coming from U.N. member states is that "the imprimatur of the United Nations — the legitimacy the United Nations offers — is important."

The new focus on the United Nations appears to have started earlier this month after France, Germany and India refused a U.S. request to provide troops for the U.S.-led force in Iraq unless there is a U.N. mandate.

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