U.N.'s Lakhdar Brahimi: Friend or Foe in Iraq?

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special representative in Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi (from Algeria), is becoming the main topic of talk in diplomatic circles, not all of it flattering.

NewsMax's United Nations correspondent Stew Stogel reports that Brahimi, currently in charge of forming Iraq's new interim government, got off to a rough start, which did not sit well with the State Department.

During an initial meeting with Iraq's current governing council, Brahimi was reported to have opened his meeting by referring to some of the attendees as "my brother Arabs."

The comment raised the eyebrows of several Kurds on the council.

Anti-Semitism?

That was followed by another comment where Brahimi (a former Algerian foreign minister) reportedly told some Iraqi officials that he "took pride" in never having to "shake the hand" of a Jewish diplomat.

That brought a rebuke by Annan (through his spokesman Fred Eckhard) and a direct public rebuke from Britain's U.N. ambassador, Sir Emyr Jones Parry, who told NewsMax that "Mr. Brahimi should restrict his comments to his assignment and not seek to traverse other minefields in the Mideast."

In fact, Brahimi often "shook the hands" of Jewish diplomats, namely former ambassadors Richard Holbrooke, Madeleine K. Albright and Herbert Okun, and former British ambassador to the U.N. Sir David Hannay, who are all Jewish.

The diplomats often met with Brahimi during their terms at the United Nations.

Inside the U.N., veteran Secretariat officials paint a mixed picture of Brahimi's track record.

Incompetence?

While Brahimi did succeed in helping form a government in Afghanistan, the long-term viability of Hamid Karzai's leadership remains in doubt.

Karzai has had limited success in extending his power beyond the capital of Kabul, this almost three years after the U.S. invasion.

Inside the organization, Secretariat officials express doubts that Brahimi can succeed in forming an interim Iraqi government that will garner broad support.

"He has never done something on this scale before," explained a veteran U.N. official who has worked with the Algerian.

"He is arrogant, independent and in some cases even incompetent," the official continued.

"He is no friend of America and could wind up costing Bush the election," he added.

Brahimi is expected to submit his recommendations for a new Iraqi government to the secretary-general by Tuesday.

Convenient Assignment?

The Secretariat veteran explained that Annan named Brahimi to the U.N. post simply because there was no other individual available to take on the assignment.

Annan has been under increasing conflicting pressures on the Iraq issue. Washington and London want an increased U.N. involvement, where the U.N. staff, still yet to recover from last year's attack on its Baghdad headquarters (22 killed), is weary about any new U.N./Iraq mission.

The U.N.'s Staff Council says security for its personnel in the country is still "seriously deficient," and last week, Annan "retired" his security chiefs in NYC, Geneva and Vienna. In March, the U.N.'s Baghdad security chief was "reassigned," and the international security coordinator opted to take his "retirement."

Annan has yet fill any of the vacated posts.

Editor's note: