What to make of Zalmay Khalilzad's op-ed today on the UN's role in Iraq? I'm not sure. It certainly seems out of step with most of the administration's rhetoric. Ban Ki Moon, the UN secretary general, met Bush at the White House this week, and just before the meeting Ban issued a statement warning against a too-quick pullout of U.S. forces in Iraq. Was that to ingratiate himself with Bush before the meeting? Is Khalilzad's op-ed a payoff for that statement?

Or is something else going on? Are certain people in the administration really ready to turn Iraq over the UN? Zal doesn't go that far, but here is what he does say:

The United States recognizes the global importance of stabilizing Iraq and supports this forward-leaning approach to enhancing the United Nations’ role. The United Nations possesses certain comparative advantages for undertaking complex internal and regional mediation efforts; it can also help internationalize the effort to stabilize the country.

In coming weeks, the United Nations will appoint a new envoy for Iraq and renew the Security Council mandate for its mission in Baghdad. ...

First, the United Nations has unmatched convening power that can help Iraq’s principal communities reach a national compact on the distribution of political and economic power. In the role of mediator, it has inherent legitimacy and the flexibility to talk to all parties, including elements outside the political process.

A new United Nations envoy should have a mandate to help Iraqis complete work on a range of issues: the law governing distribution of hydrocarbon revenues, the reform of the de-Baathification law, the review of the Constitution, the plan for demobilization of militias, an agreement for insurgents to give up their armed struggle. The envoy should be empowered to help resolve the status of Kirkuk and disputed internal boundaries and to prepare and monitor provincial elections. Also, the mandate should make it possible for the United Nations to explore potential third-party guarantees that may be needed to induce Iraqi factions to reconcile. ...

Second, the United Nations is also uniquely suited to work out a regional framework to stabilize Iraq. Several of Iraq’s neighbors — not only Syria and Iran but also some friends of the United States — are pursuing destabilizing policies. The United States supports a new mandate that creates a United Nations-led multilateral diplomatic process to contain the regional competition that is adding fuel to the fire of Iraq’s internal conflict.

In other words, the UN can do literally everything that the United States has failed to accomplish in Iraq: political accommodation, regional accord--the works.