Bush 'offers UN greater Iraq role'

The United States is to ask the United Nations to approve the creation of a multinational force in Iraq in return for ceding some political authority, US officials say.

The exact details of a draft UN Security Council resolution, approved by President George W Bush, remain unclear - but the White House insists that any military force in Iraq will be under the control of an American commander.

Policing Iraq in the wake of the US-led invasion has proved an ongoing problem, with American soldiers coming under guerrilla-style attack on a daily basis and a recent series of deadly bomb attacks.

Now one of the leading Iraqis chosen by the US to sit on the interim governing council in Iraq has told the BBC that he may set up armed militias to fill what he says is a security vacuum.

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Its about time. We should not have started this debacle without the UN in the first place. Going it effectively alone was an appalling display of bad judgement. Thank god there is a UN to help pull our butts out of the line of fire