THE US: When the vote was finally called on the US resolution on Iraq yesterday, all eyes turned towards the ambassador from France, a leading critic of America. Monsieur Jean-Marc de La Sabliere's hand went up to support the resolution.
Across the horseshoe-shaped table the hand of the most-likely hold-out, Syrian ambassador Sayssal Mekdad, was also, astonishingly, raised.
In the end, after weeks of haggling over Resolution 1511 defining the role of the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq, the US got a 15-0 vote in favour, its biggest UN victory since November.
The triumph was tempered however by the grudging nature of the support for the resolution which leaves the US in charge in Iraq until after a new government emerges and does not include a timetable for withdrawal as several allies demanded.
Russia, France and Germany jointly declared afterwards that they backed the US-drafted resolution "in a spirit of unity" but that they would not send soldiers nor commit more money to Iraq. They said the text should have gone further on the role of the UN in the political process and the pace of the handover.
"We miss the clear signal that the transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqis will be accelerated," Germany's UN ambassador, Mr Gunter Pleuger, told the council.
Some diplomats privately dismissed the vote as a fig leaf for US policy, but others said that it could be the beginning of an exit strategy for Washington.
US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell called the vote "a great achievement" which "put all of our differences of the past in the past." The unanimous vote gives the US moral leverage for an Iraq donors' conference in Madrid next week, but Mr Powell admitted in Washington; "I don't see this vote as opening the door to troops." In a concession by the US, the resolution gives the UN a role for its "unique expertise" in a constitutional conference leading to elections in Iraq.
This resulted from a series of amendments submitted on Wednesday by Russia after Russian President Vladimir Putin consulted French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.
Russian ambassador Mr Sergio Lavrov told the council the resolution gave Mr Annan the right to make decisions on the timetable to independence and to take part in a constitutional conference.
Pakistan's envoy Munir Akram complained that the international force sanctioned by the resolution would not be separate from coalition forces and his country could not therefore supply troops. Mr de La Sabliere said a shorter and stricter timetable was needed than that in the resolution that gives the Iraqi Governing Council until December 15th to draw up a timetable for a constitutional conference and elections.
US ambassador John Negroponte hailed the council's "wholehearted support" for the people of Iraq. The fact that the vote was unanimous "is bound to have an important impact upon various countries," he said. "If ever there was a time to help Iraq, it is now."
The resolution, co-sponsored by the UK, Cameroon and Spain, recognises the "temporary nature" of the power exercised by the CPA and says that the 25-member Iraqi Council and its ministers "are the principal bodies of the Iraqi interim administration.
It states that the Iraqi Council "embodies the sovereignty of the State of Iraq during the transitional period until an internationally recognised, representative government is established and assumes the responsibilities of the Authority."
The Taoiseach Mr Ahern said yesterday in theory the passing of the resolution would allow the Republic to contribute troops to Iraq.
Speaking on RTÉ, however, he said given Ireland's contribution to a "difficult" mission in Liberia it was unlikely that Irish troops would be sent to Iraq.