U.S. Quest for UN Help on Iraq Meets Wary Response [View All]

[underpants]

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-iraq-un-reaction.html

LONDON (Reuters) - France and Germany reacted cautiously on Thursday to a U.S. move to win a United Nations mandate for a peacekeeping force for Iraq, and the new Iraqi foreign minister said Turkish troops would be unwelcome.

``It is not about the United Nations getting responsibility for what is happening there now, so nothing in the situation has actually changed,'' Olaf Scholz, general secretary of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats, told German radio.

``Germany didn't start the war and didn't participate in it so we must be very cautious about what we do,'' Scholz said, adding that Germany would limit its role to humanitarian aid.

Asked about a possible Turkish peacekeeping role, he (Iraqi Foreign Minister Zebari---a Kurd) told the Arabic television channel Al Jazeera: ``Our neighboring countries have their own political agendas, which they could bring with them to Iraq, thus causing more instability in Iraq.''

Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel welcomed the U.S. plan, but did not say if his country would provide troops.

Iraq's neighbor, Jordan, said it welcomed an expanded U.N. role in Iraq but had no plans to dispatch its own troops there.