The United Nations has Never Been More Relevant

By Phyllis Bennis and John Cavanagh
September 28, 2003, Lewiston Sun Journal (ME)

Americans have always been strong supporters of the United Nations, and as events unfolding in New York in recent days underscore, that organization has never been more relevant. After dismissing the United Nations as “irrelevant” during the buildup to our war in Iraq, Bush administration officials and others are now finding it is the most important venue they have for mending fences with critical allies and to share the growing burdens in post-war Iraq.

In a late April poll conducted by the University of Maryland, a full 88% of Americans polled said we should have tried to get Security Council authorization for the Iraqi war, and almost two thirds say our unilateral action in Iraq does not mean we should feel free to use force in the future without UN authorization. And on the still-contentious issue of governance and reconstruction in post-war Iraq, 54% of Americans think that while the United States should provide security in Iraq, that the UN—not the Pentagon—should lead relief and reconstruction efforts.

Hence, Bush administration efforts to undermine, discredit and weaken the United Nations have failed. Instead, most of the world and most Americans recognize that the UN, by challenging an unjust war and insisting instead on peaceful solutions, has proved its indispensable role in various ways. First, it delayed the war for five months, underscoring the importance of UN inspectors in disarming dictators.

It is clear to all that UN inspectors found and destroyed far greater quantities of dangerous weapons in Saddam’s Iraq than the United States has found since taking over the country. The UN also provides the equally important framework, through the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and agreements, to shape the global disarmament efforts needed to rid the world of all weapons of mass destruction, including our own.

Second, the United Nations became a central forum to organize global opposition to the Bush administration’s dangerous new national security doctrine that posits pre-emptive war as a central strategy.

The overwhelming majority of nations, including the eleven that refused to vote with the United States in the UN Security Council, rejected this doctrine, saying it increases insecurity and inequality around the world. Now the UN is acting as the very forum needed by U.S. leaders to mend fences, rebuild alliances and gain support to help clean up the mess that is post-war Iraq.

Third, the UN has reinforced democracy in several countries. By standing up to the United States at the UN, France, Germany, and Russia provided the opportunity for Chile, Pakistan, Mexico, Cameroon, Angola and Guinea to withstand U.S. pressures and stand with their own domestic public opinion and say “no.”

Finally, meetings and speeches or recent days have again catapulted the United Nations onto the front pages of newspapers everywhere and, in the process, many have learned of its vital work on HIV/AIDS, the SARS epidemic, refugee protection, child health and human rights issues. The UN cannot solve all of the world’s problems, but it has an urgent and central role to play in many. Thus, it is folly for the Bush administration to reject global public opinion and the views of roughly two-thirds of Americans by sidelining the UN in the reconstruction of Iraq or to fail to cooperate fully in other areas.

The United Nations has the credibility in the region and the expertise in Iraq enabling it to do a far better job than the Pentagon and its hand-picked Iraqi exiles.

Six decades ago, the United Nations was created to help secure the peace in an uncertain world recovering from global war. It was not able this time to prevent war—but it came close. It provided a framework for more than six years of serious Iraqi disarmament, and it proved that it can serve as both venue and actor for global mobilization against a war that most of its members consider unjust and illegal.

In opposing the Bush administration, UN members acted in accordance with the core mandates of the Charter: to find alternatives to “the scourge of war” and to strengthen the foundations of international law. It is not a perfect organization—there is no such thing—but we are far better off in this world because it does exist and serves us all.

Phyllis Bennis is a Fellow at the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies and author of “Before and After: US Foreign Policy and the September 11th Crisis.” John Cavanagh is director of IPS and worked for the UN from 1979 to 1983

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