Saddam Hussein’s greatest gift to the world may well be the collapse of the United Nations. The impasse in the Security Council over what the words “serious consequences” mean in resolution 1441, is highly visible evidence that the U.N., as the world’s peacekeeper, is totally irrelevant.
In its preamble, the U.N. Charter says it was formed to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.” The truth is, that the U.N. has done more to prevent peace, than to prevent war. In its entire history, the U.N. Security Council has voted to authorize military intervention only three times: in Korea, in the 1991 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, and in the 2002 intervention in Afghanistan – all at the request of the United States.
While hundreds of thousands of people were being hacked to death in Rwanda, the U.N. talked, but did nothing. While ethnic cleansing was occurring in the Balkans, the U.N. talked, but did nothing. The chronology of slaughter during the life of the U.N. is inescapable evidence of the U.N.’s abject failure to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.”
Saddam’s refusal to comply with 18 U.N. resolutions shines the spotlight of reality on the U.N.’s irrelevance. This unintended gift from Saddam, allows us to get on with making the world a safer place for all.
Since it is now abundantly clear that the world cannot look to the U.N., the United States has no choice but to accept the role it has played since World War II. Like it or not, we are the world’s policemen. It is time to stop wasting resources at the U.N., in hopes it will be what it can never become.
The attack on the World Trade Center has forever changed the foundation of U.S. foreign policy. The U.N.’s spectacular failure forces the United States to look to the future from a new perspective: national defense first, and advancement of U.S. national interests.
To achieve both of these objectives, friendly, cooperative relations with all nations that share these objectives is a must. After all, these are the same objectives that virtually every nation pursues. More than 20 nations have signed on to support America’s efforts in Iraq, even without U.N. support, because they realize that our goals advance their national interests and promote their national defense.
France, Germany, Russia and China choose not to support the U.S. effort because the elimination of Saddam Hussein will not advance their national interests. So be it.
The United States cannot look to the U.N. to provide solutions to the rising North Korean conflict – nor to the rising conflict with Iran. Using the same principle that has guided the Bush administration in dealing with Iraq – military power as the last resort – the U.S. should exhaust diplomatic efforts to help end the nuclear threat posed by both of these nations. At the end of the day, the United States should be prepared to do whatever is necessary to prevent their anticipated weapons of mass destruction from ever being used.
It will take perhaps a decade for the world to realize that we are entering a new, post-U.N. era. The only way America can prove to the world that we are not the “great Satan,” as taught by Saddam and Osama, is to demonstrate the principles of freedom at home, and in our relationships with the nations that want our help.
We cannot leave Afghanistan to fall victim to the next, most powerful warlord. We need to help them discover the principles of freedom on which to build democratic institutions that ensure self governance by the people. The Iraqis long to escape the iron fist of tyranny which has enslaved them for generations. It is in our self-interest to help them.
Freedom, as America has demonstrated, is the best hope for peace and prosperity in the world.
The U.N. has never been about freedom. It has always been about amassing the power to control world events. When government controls the people – whether the government is a Saddam, the Taliban or a world government – there is no freedom. Freedom can exist only when people control their government through an orderly process which results in policies the people want, administered by officials the people choose. Freedom requires a system that allows the people to change their leaders, without bloodshed, whenever they wish.
President Bush believes that “Freedom is not America’s gift to the world; freedom is God’s gift to humanity.” This is the principle that should guide our post-9/11, post-U.N. foreign policy.
