Resolutions, part II

Last week, I was predicting that Bush would get his resolution, but that there would be a lot of abstentions, and that no-one would bother to act on it unless he bought out the thumbscrews. Now, it's looking like America may withdraw its resolution because "abstentions will deprive the resolution of sufficient legitimacy as a mandate".

In other words, they can't muster the nine positive votes they need for a resolution to pass. Ouch.

The problem is that the Americans are unwilling to concede anything. They want the world to pay in money and blood to clean up their mess, while retaining total control of how that money is spent and where those cannon-fodder soldiers are deployed (hint: they want the Turks to go to Falluja). The rest of the world is unsurprisingly unwilling to contribute on those terms. As a result, Iraq will continue to go to hell in a handbasket, and Americans will continue to come home in bodybags.

(Related: Clare Short is in Washington at the moment, trying to convince the US government to give "whatever it takes" to get the rest of the world onside. Salon has an interesting interview with her here. Unfortunately, I think she's kicking dead whales down a beach there.)