UN-Loved

WASHINGTON: Whether or not Kofi Annan's deal with Baghdad stands the test of time, it was hard to deny Tuesday that the U.N. chief had done the U.S. a sizable favor. The deal gives President Clinton a temporary out from a war that lacked domestic support, as well as fresh justification to attack should Saddam renege again. Annan was even gracious enough to credit the U.S. military as the "big stick" that made the deal possible.

But all that doesn't get a Republican Congress off Annan's back. "We're in a real jam," Jesse Helms said Tuesday. "We're in the disgraceful position of either going along with whatever deal Mr. Annan brought home or being regarded as the bad guys who rejected peace and insisted on war."

TIME Washington deputy bureau chief Jef McAllister says that while the accord definitely shows Americans that "the U.N. can do something worthwhile," the Republicans are hardly prepared to admit that -- at least not in an election year. "Iraq is the foreign policy card the GOP is going to play against Clinton in November," says McAllister, "and the Republicans have definitely lumped Clinton's policy and the U.N.'s together." Which means that Kofi shouldn't expect that $1.2 billion in U.S. back dues anytime soon.