[B_part]

The proposal has merit, but UN takeover poses a big threat: UN forces tend to keeping peace instead of enforcing peace. If the UN takeover means you cannot shoot unless they nuke you, and those are usual UN rules of engagement, it will really be another lebanon / bosnia: peacekeepers watching people killing each other and doing nothing. Without a strong armed presence able and WILLING to quell any unrest, a new Iraqi government will be powerless, and whenever there is a power vacuum and factions struggle to get on top, it will be the most ruthless and most armed to prevail. And those aren't the most fervent backers of democracy. So beware.

Also, the new Iraqi government might not like UN troops: to enforce its will it would have to ask these "occupation troops" (for that they appear to the Iraqi people) to act, and that is not the best image a national government wants to give of itself, asking foreigners to do what it cannot.

IMO before you can transfer power to the Iraqis, a strong Iraqi police and military structure must be created, so that the government can demand instead of asking and act instead of sitting. And such a thing demands time. Let's try not to forget that only a few months have passed since the end of the previous regime, and if you look back in history, the estabilishment of a new strong power requires more than that.