US Eyes UN Peacekeepers for Iraq in 2011

[unhappycamper]

US Eyes UN Peacekeepers for Iraq in 2011
July 06, 2010
Associated Press

BAGHDAD - The top American military commander in Iraq said Tuesday that U.N. peacekeeping forces may need to protect disputed territories in the nation's north if tensions between Kurds and Arabs haven't eased by the time U.S. troops leave in 2011.

In an interview with The Associated Press, U.S. Army Gen. Ray Odierno said U.N. peacekeepers might be one option if Kurdish soldiers haven't integrated into the Arab-dominated Iraqi army over the next year. He said he hopes the U.N. forces won't be necessary.

But Odierno acknowledged that tensions between the two cultures - and the oil-rich land in Iraq's north that each side claims as its territory - have been simmering for years without resolution. Iraq's Kurds want several areas of Ninevah, Tamim and Diyala provinces to be part of their autonomous region, a move opposed by the Arab-dominated central government.

"If (they) have not integrated, we might have to think of some other mechanism," Odierno said. "I don't know what that is yet. Is it a Chapter 6 U.N. force? I don't know. But that's something that has to be worked out, and it'll be depending on how far we are able to bring this process."

Chapter 6 of the United Nations charter refers to peacekeeping duties like investigating and mediating disputes.



unhappycamper comment: Well General, by the time the United States decides to leave and pay the UN for peacekeepers our currency will be worth bupkis.