An interesting number of articles have been coming out in recent days concerning the opinions of the Iraqi people concerning the UN. While Bush spent a lot of time in his press conference Wednesday night talking about the handover and a multilateral approach in Iraq, it seems that this approach will not resonate well with the people of Iraq. In an editorial in today’s Globe and Mail Salim Lone writes:

A recent Pew Research Center poll showed that the UN image has fallen to abysmally low levels in the Arab and Muslim worlds, and that it is vital that the organization correct its excessive U.S. tilt. It will only be able to do that if the United States itself recognizes that it cannot seek legitimacy from a UN undermined by the excessive U.S. pressure routinely placed on the Secretary-General and the institution itself.

It curiously echoed something else I read in The View From Baghdad:

BTW, while we are on liberal democract rhetoric, I do tons of public opinion research here, and the rhetoric in the USA - a multi-lateral approach will solve all Iraq’s ills - DOES NOT resonate among the Iraqi people. The UN is seen as the people who helped keep Saddam in power, and let him punish some groups and reward others. As we have seen, the insurgents are just as happy to kidnap Japanese and Koreans as they are Americans. Perhaps more if one wants to judge by numbers.

Similar comments have been made by other commentators recently. What’s interesting to me is that the first comment I included above is from the former director of communications for the UN mission in Iraq. The second comment is from a guy who makes his dislike for the U.N. pretty clear in his blog. Both roughly say the same thing.

Another observation seems to be pretty common right now: the most important concerns of Iraqis are the ones that you and I have. They want jobs, working infrastructure, and a say in governance. No raw sewage on the streets. The little things.