New man leads UK hopes for Iraq

By Paul Reynolds BBC News Online world affairs correspondent

When things go badly, governments tend to turn to new policies and new people.

Some new policies are promised in Iraq - a greater UN role, more security, more money - and Britain has a new man. He is Sir Jeremy Greenstock, previously ambassador at the United Nations, and he is going in with lots of determination and some hope.

It remains to be seen if the enthusiasm he is projecting will survive.

He met reporters in London in advance of going to Baghdad, and made three points straightaway.

Sir Jeremy Greenstock is set for a very different scene than the UN

On his role: "I see my role firstly as supporting (the US administrator) Paul Bremer. I do not seek to rival him. I am there to express the British Government's view with a remit to help Bremer."

Thus he established his loyal credentials. There is, British officials insist, no divergence between London and Washington on the way forward.

"It is a seamless team" was how one official put it.

On who should run Iraq: "I am a strong believer in the need to bring affairs in Iraq back to the control of Iraqis as soon as that can be done in a sustainable environment."

On international help for Iraq: "Bremer says that he wants a huge injection of new funds over the next 15 months to fill budget gaps if oil production does not pick up. Iraq needs as soon as possible to be run by Iraqis with resources from the international community."

That means more money and Sir Jeremy said: "I expect that Washington and London will respond."

Whether the US and UK treasuries will agree is not so clear.

As for more British and American troops, the "jury is still out" but the issue is under examination.

Whether the Pentagon and the Ministry of Defence in London would agree is also not clear.

Handover timetable

British officials also gave news about two potentially important new policies.

The first is that former members of the Iraqi army under Saddam Hussein might be brought into a new Iraqi army.

"There could be some exceptions to the rule banning all former members of the Baath party," said one official.

An Iraqi civilian Ministry of Defence might also be set up soon.

The second is that a new resolution will probably include a call for a timetable to be set for a handover. The resolution will not set the timetable itself; that, in the British view should be left to the Iraqi Governing Council. Sometime in 2004 is expected to be the target date.

The reference to a timetable appears to be a concession towards the French, and British officials expect the French to "charge quite a high price" in the negotiations.

Sir Jeremy, the old UN hand, expects a new Security Council resolution on Iraq to be ready within a few weeks. Foreign Ministers gather in New York at the end of September for the annual General Assembly so that is the most likely time.

But he does not, it appears, think that the French will get very far if they demand too many changes in the current set-up. Of course, if the French are not happy, then there might not be any resolution.

The British hope is that the UN will give its endorsement to the strategy of handing over power to Iraqis next year and thereby clear the way for troop contributions from Turkey, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and others.

And these troops might carry out some more basic security tasks while the US and British soldiers concentrate on the harder task of tracking down what one official called "al-Qaeda-type terrorists and Saddam residue."

Change of scene

The new British representative will find himself in a very different spot compared to his UN posting.

When he agreed to take on the job (until the middle of next year only, he says) after his formal retirement at the age of 60 from the Foreign Office, he might have expected a tough time but not quite the war zone which Iraq has turned into.

"August was a bad month" one official said.

One was tempted, in listening to this accomplished diplomat who has never been to Iraq, to recall all those Americans' efforts to relaunch their policies in South Vietnam.

Maybe that is unfair, but 2004 does look an awfully long way off.