Excerpts from previous updates, by subject

Removed on July 20, 2005

Political environment

• Iraq’s new government, elected in January 2005, will be challenged to maintain order and prevent terrorist activities. As the new government asserts its sovereignty, it is beginning to demand that the U.N. Security Council close the weapon dossiers and deem Iraq “clean,” now that the hunt for weapons of mass destruction has ended. In January, 2005, Baghdad’s envoy to the United Nations called for that body to phase out the use of Iraqi oil proceeds to compensate victims of the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, and to lift a requirement that Iraqi oil proceeds be used to pay for U.N. weapon inspectors, who stopped searching for banned weapons in Iraq two years ago. The envoy also called on the United Nations to consider lifting an arms embargo imposed in 1990.

• Separately, in June 2004, the United Nations authorized a multinational force to maintain security in Iraq. The U.S.-led multinational force serves at the invitation of, and in partnership with, the new government. The mandate for the multinational force will be reviewed at the request of the new government, or in June 2005.