UN lays blame for blast on U.S.
Security should have been tighter, but Annan admits UN made mistakes
Steven Edwards
The Ottawa Citizen
canada.com
UNITED NATIONS -- A row erupted yesterday over the security failure at the United Nation's Baghdad compound, with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan saying U.S. forces should have known to patrol the area.
But as recovery crews continued to pull bodies from the compound's bombed-out remains, Mr. Annan and several UN officials also admitted the world body had made mistakes on security policy.
It emerged yesterday that amid the rubble are the remains of what would have been a concrete barrier that the UN had begun to build to prevent vehicles packed with explosives from being parked near the compound -- as happened Tuesday with devastating results. At least 20 people were killed, including two Canadians.
Building the planned 3.6-metre barrier earlier might have made a difference, UN officials conceded.
Mr. Annan rejected, however, Washington's reasoning that UN officials in Baghdad had refused offers by U.S. forces in Iraq to protect the compound.
"Nobody (asks) you if you want the police to patrol your neighbourhood," he said as he returned to UN headquarters after cutting short his holiday in Europe. "They make the assessment that patrol and protection is needed, and then they start, and that's what should be done in Iraq."
UN officials say the U.S., as an "occupying power," is responsible for providing security.
But they also admit they did not want to frighten ordinary Iraqis by having their compound heavily fortified.
"Security around our location was not as secure as you might find at the U.S. compound, and that was a decision we made so the offices were available to the people," said chief UN spokesman Fred Eckhard, in comments that appeared to confirm the UN had refused U.S. help. "We did not think at the time we were taking an unnecessary risk."
FBI officials in Baghdad said yesterday the explosives used in the bombing included about 450 kilograms of old weaponry, including one single 225-kilogram bomb. They were left on a flatbed truck parked outside the wall around the UN compound.
American military and civilian officials in Iraq warned repeatedly over the last two months that car bombings or similar surprise attacks were strong possibilities.
And the 25-member interim Governing Council received intelligence on Aug. 14 that a truck bombing was imminent in the capital, council member Ahmad Chalabi, told Agence-France Presse.
"The intelligence specifically said that a large scale act would take place ... against a soft target, such as Iraqi political parties or other parties, including the UN," Mr. Chalabi told AFP.
However, as the chaos of Tuesday gave way to efforts to regroup yesterday, UN officials said only two survivors of the 300 international staff members sent to Baghdad had accepted offers to return home.
The news allowed Mr. Annan to confidently declare the UN would resume its work in the Iraqi capital despite having suffered its worst attack in history. "We will carry on our work. We shall not be deterred," he said.
But much will change because of the attack, which killed the UN's chief envoy for Iraq, and may claim more lives among the injured.
One fear is that the terrorists, whose identities and goals remained unknown yesterday, now plan to target humanitarian workers of all international organizations. The Red Cross, CARE and Oxfam have followed the UN in ordering security reviews.
"No one knows who the next target will be, and this time we may have been lucky," said CARE Canada spokesman Aly-Khan Rajani. CARE has distributed $600,000 from the Canadian government to fund a waterworks repair truck for Baghdad. He said CARE had reluctantly decided to limit staff movements even though doing so may impede delivery of aid.
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund pulled their staff out of Iraq yesterday after the bombing. The two are expected to provide billions of dollars in loans to help restart the country's economy and banking system.
Politically, the attack has prompted Britain, Washington's main ally in Iraq, to suggest the job of securing the country may be too big for the United States to handle alone.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw will arrive at the UN today to argue for a new UN resolution that would give the Security Council power to send in an international force.
The U.S. has until now resisted such a resolution because countries that opposed the war, among them France and Germany, argued it should also give the UN powers over administration. The United States feels it is best placed to guide Iraq towards democracy.
In a sign that even the United States is now uncertain of the best way forward, Richard Boucher, spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said yesterday the new resolution "remains on the table." However, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfield said there was no immediate need to bolster U.S. forces with international troops.
Ironically, many countries that had been calling for a UN mandate to send international troops may now be less keen to see it happen if the UN itself has become a target of the terrorists.
In North Bay yesterday, Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham said Canada will move to ensure greater security for international aid workers in the wake of the bombing.
"Canadians are risking their lives to bring benefits to others, both in Iraq and in Afghanistan," a grim Mr. Graham said. "We have to make sure that we recognize what those risks are, analyze the risks and contribute to making sure they are as small as possible."
Mr. Graham's comments came as he announced that Gillian Clark, 47, of Toronto was among the more than 20 killed when a truck loaded with explosives blew up outside the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad. Ms. Clark, who worked for the Christian Children's Fund, was the second Canadian killed. Christopher Klein-Beekman of British Columbia also died. He worked for UNICEF. Five others were injured in the blast.
Canadian victim 'a powerful advocate for children,' page A8
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