Madrid, Nov 03: The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) should head up the security operation in Iraq under a UN mandate, former US President Bill Clinton has argued here. "We should revisit the question of whether the UN could assume responsibilities at least on paper for the security operations as well with NATO," Clinton told a press conference with former Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso yesterday.

If NATO were put in charge in Iraq, there would be wider international support for the operation there, he argued.

The international community must join forces to push Iraq towards a bright future, he added.

The former Democratic president Clinton, who preceded the republican George W Bush, said he didn't think the US troops in Iraq should withdraw immediately "because the Iraqi economy and security environment is not sufficiently strong".
Clinton also offered his condolences to the families of the 15 US soldiers killed when a helicopter was brought down west of Baghdad yesterday.

Bureau Report