Should US Soldiers be placed under UN Command?

Bandit

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Sat May-29-04 11:22 AM
Original message

Should US Soldiers be placed under UN Command?

When Kerry wins and he establishes a repoir with the UN and the UN takes over peace-keeping in Iraq should US force be part of the UN force and should they al;so be under UN leadership and control. I know this is a huge issue with the right. How do we feel here on the far left? Are we afraid of losing face by allowing the UN to have official control over some US forces?

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truhavoc

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Sat May-29-04 11:24 AM
Response to Original message

1. I would prefer a NATO Supreme Commander..

Think the general would be interested?

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trumad

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Sat May-29-04 11:24 AM
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2. How'd they do it in Kosovo

Get Clark in..he'll figure it out...

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Mattforclark

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Sat May-29-04 11:28 AM
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3. I would prefer Iraqi political control

IE, if a representative Iraqi government tells us to do something, we do it.

As for tactical military command, it doesn't really make sense to put it under the UN, but NATO might be good, if it is possible to get NATO.

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kalian

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Sat May-29-04 11:32 AM
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4. So in essence...."stay the course"....

but under a different flag and pretext...? I don't think so....

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htuttle

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Sat May-29-04 11:33 AM
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5. Do we have any 'face' left to lose?

I'm feeling that we're a bit like Skeletor here...not much face left intact.

Putting US troops under UN command would demonstrate an obivous change in our imperial attitude. I think that convincing the world that we mean to change our ways is as important in this situation as any 'tough guy face' we might lose by our troops taking orders from a Belgian or a Swede (not sure who the UN commander would be at this point).

Our biggest problem would not seem to be a military one. Our biggest problem right now is our loss of credibility -- nobody believes a damn word we say anymore.

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sushi

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Sat May-29-04 11:38 AM
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6. True or pretend sovereignty

Edited on Sat May-29-04 11:41 AM by sushi

The answer surely depends on what kind of sovereignty the Iraqis will have. If it's real (true) sovereignty then it would be ridiculous to have troops on Iraqi soil under the command of another country.

If it's a pretend turnover on June 30, then things don't really change. All that will happen is that Iraq gets its very own Karzai, who will be guarded by foreigners, and who will have to do as ordered. Does anyone here think the Iraqis would fall for this?

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OneBlueSky

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Sat May-29-04 11:57 AM
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7. no UN peacekeeping force can succeed . . .

unless all US troops are removed from Iraq . . . too much damage has been done, and any trust that may have been established has been totally destroyed . . . a UN force should consist of troops from non-US and non-UK countries . . .

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sushi

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Sat May-29-04 12:08 PM
Response to Reply #7

8. Yes!

I think it would be best that a UN force not have troops from any coalition nation. I think it's best if troops from Muslim nations are a big part of a UN force.

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