[Andy A.]

The United Nations is only as effective as the members are willing to make it.

As Lincoln once said, "A house divided can not stand". This is true in respect to the US and now to the UN. If the US is really the worlds last superpower, then I belive it has an obligation to participate and facilitate the UN. With out the participation of the US then of course the UN's ability to fulfill it's goals are compromised.

When Powell presented the case to the UN and sought multilateral action from countries not just out to get into NATO, as most of the ‘coalition of the willing’ is. Thats a whole other discussion, but it stems from the US neglecting the UN. Back on topic, the UN heard the arguments, and agreed that the Iraqi military posed no threat and the US claims of WMD were unfounded or based on poor intelligence. It was agreed that further inspections were required, and were commencing.

That’s is the moment that the US should have dropped the cowboy attitude and worked with the UN to help ensure the inspectors and aid workers could do their job. We had the worlds attention focused on Iraq and had demonstrated that we were willing to work with the rest of the world to fix what we argued was a world threat. It could have been an example of the world working together to defeat an evil, as it almost did in the first Gulf war. It could have cemented the role of the UN and eliminated any doubts the world had about the ability of nations to come together and work for a common good.

Instead we gave the UN the proverbial finger and started bombing. And don’t forget the Freedom toast. We really stuck it to those French with that one.

And here we are. No WMD, no moral victory, no strategic victory, nothing even remotely involved in fighting terrorism, an angry Arab world and an over tasked military. We do have examples of the US military practicing the same brutality that Saddam was guilty of and a mounting body count, along with a massive war debt. Aside from all that, the real problem is that we have pretty well trampled on decades of diplomatic ties and good will that could have given us a real chance at routing terrorist cells around the world. Now the chances of getting the level of cooperation that we had shortly after 9/11 is gone. This makes the ‘war on terror’ a war on entire countries instead of terrorists.

Oh yes, this unilateral thing is just working out swimmingly huh?

Again. Diplomacy may not be as fun, but has a lower body count. This is good, no?

-Andy A.