I've got a sour taste for Tom Friedman, but he does get around. His lates NYT Op-Ed has this juicy nugget from the meeting of the world powers in Davos:
Vice President Dick Cheney, who, more than any Bush official resisted cooperation with the U.N. in the Iraq war, made a firm, low-key defense of the U.S. policy. But after Mr. Cheney spoke, a "senior administration official" privately told reporters that the Bush team was ready to give the U.N. pretty much whatever authority it wanted to help oversee Iraq's transition to elections -- and the only thing standing in the way was whether the U.N. would assume the risks.
Now, there are a number of ways to think about this. And there's a poll. Come on in to register your opinion.
I really think getting the UN into Iraq and in charge of setting up the government there post-haste is a good idea. I think the UN has to ask for real authority in Iraq; the ability to decide what governing body will control the "guest peacekeepers" and at what point that body acts completely independently from its UN advisory team.
If it can happen under Bush's watch and there are no killer strings attached, then so much the better.
It's most likely that Bush will ignore the UN, but should he make any moves towards them I think this is a winner for us either way. If he does it and it works, it's good for Iraq and it hurts his base because we can attack on the right: Bush caved to the UN.
If he tries and fails, or the effort is strung out while casualties climb and the election heats up, it could be a damaging diplomatic drama on the order of Carter's inability to deal with the the Iranian hostage situation.
Also, I know it's been said before, but I think Cheney's being set up to take a fall. He's being pinned with everything that's most unpopular with the administration, with the idea being to create a scapegoat in the classic sense of the word: someone you can kill off to purge yourself of sin. People talk about how he is the guy behind the guy -- and he's certainly strong and influential -- but that kind of thinking just sets you up to be flummoxed when Bush drops him in October.