How to Move Iraq Forward (Kofi Annan takes credit for Iraq vote)
Washington Post ^ | 2/12/05 | Kofi Annan
 

The success of the Jan. 30 elections in Iraq has created an exciting moment of opportunity. It matters greatly that Iraq's transition is a success. I am determined to make certain that the United Nations will play its full part in helping the Iraqi people achieve that end.

But it also matters that the international community, which has been angrily divided over Iraq, now recognizes that we all share a common agenda: to move Iraq from the starting point -- its successfully completed elections -- to a peaceful, prosperous and democratic future.

Even the scars left by past differences can be turned into opportunities. Precisely because the United Nations did not agree on some earlier actions in Iraq, it now has much-needed credibility with and access to Iraqi groups that must agree to join in the new political process if peace is to prevail. Now is the time for us to draw on that capital.

I want to capture this moment, and I encourage the international community to come together around Iraq through the United Nations.

No one can fail to have been moved by the Iraqis' display of courage at the polls. The United Nations is proud of the assistance it was able to give them, both in developing the political base for elections and in the technical preparations. We helped to draft the electoral law and to form the Independent Electoral Commission, which ran the elections. A U.N. electoral team of more than 50 staff members in Baghdad, Amman and New York supported the commission. The United Nations trained the commission's members and several hundred other electoral workers, who in turn trained thousands more, and we have advised and supported them throughout the process.
 

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