Juan Cole - July 2, 2005

Breaking News: Iraq UN Ambassador Charges Marines with Murder of his Nephew
Suicide Bomber Kills 20 at Police Recruitment Center

Iraq's ambassador to the UN, Samir Sumaidaie, said Saturday that US Marines shot his 21-year-old nephew as he was helping them carry out a search of his residence in Anbar province. The nephew had been asked if there were any weapons in the house and were shown a rifle with no ammunition (most Iraqi families have guns at home). The nephew was arrested by the Marines and then found dead with a bullet in his neck.

European Parliament Committee Calls for UN Command in Iraq
Sistani Aide Killed in Baghdad

The Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament has called for all foreign troops in Iraq to be replaced by a United Nations-led peace keeping force. It urged a trans-Atlantic (i.e. US and European) sharing of burdens in Iraq. It said that the troops currently in Iraq should gradually be replaced by a UN force. Moreover, it called for many more countries to begin training Iraqi troops, perhaps bringing them to their own countries for that purpose. The proposal will be debated on the floor of the European Parliament in Strasburg next month.

The UN Option for Iraq: Guest Comment by Carl Nyberg

Carl Nyberg, a former UN peacekeeper in Cambodia, writes:

"I'm skeptical of putting much hope into a UN solution for Iraq's security problems.

I was a UN peacekeeper in Cambodia, but don't want to lean too heavily on my personal experience. What I learned from my experience is that it is almost impossible for one person to capture the full story of something as complex as a UN peacekeeping mission.