By Steve Campbell
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Tuesday February 25, 2003
The United Nations is coming to a crossroads and it's time for it to decide which path it intends to take. On the one hand, it has the opportunity to exert itself as a legitimate world governing body, while on the other, it may fall by the wayside, history recording its existence as an organization with potential that doomed itself to failure.
In 1945, the United Nations was established to create an international organization that would maintain peace and security throughout the world. While the U.N. has clearly achieved a great deal during its 57 years of existence, it's becoming more and more clear that its inability to handle current situations in the world today may eventually lead to its downfall.
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has insisted that only the leadership of the United Nations can provide "global legitimacy for the long-term response to terrorism." It is now time to show Mr. Annan and the rest of the anti-American world that the United States no longer needs them, as if they ever did.
There are several countries that are siding with Saddam Hussein over George Bush; a ruthless dictatorship over a thriving democracy; oppression and human rights violations over liberty and freedom for all people. It is clear that these countries do not hold the same values as the United States, and as long as they are sheltering themselves and their views under the umbrella of the United Nations, it is time for the United States and its true allies to part ways with this failing organization.
If you do not learn from the past, then you are destined to repeat it. The clichˇ could not be any truer. After World War I, a world governing body emerged, similar to that of the United Nations. This organization was to promote peace and stability in the world and prevent another war like World War I from ever happening again.
Japan invaded Manchuria and this governing body did nothing. Italy invaded Ethiopia a few years later in 1935 and once again, no action was taken. And then, after a crazy dictator named Hitler began his quest to rule the world, this organization stood by, allowing World War II to take place. It was then that the League of Nations became irrelevant, written down in the history books as a failure.
The United States, along with its true allies, the British, led a coalition of the willing to liberate France and save the rest of Europe from the hands of an evil dictator. All of this was done after millions of Americans protested, saying that it wasn't our war to fight. There were even pro-Nazi rallies, attended by more than 100,000 people, in America. Lucky for the United States and the rest of the world, these protesters didn't dictate our foreign policy.
The United Nations is following the same path as the League of Nations. It's time for the United States and its friends to get off this sinking ship before it goes down completely.
What has the U.N. done to this point to influence Saddam Hussein to disarm? In 1999, they drafted resolution 1284 demanding that inspectors be allowed to return to Iraq to continue the inspection process. The resolution was passed 11-0 with France, Russia and China abstaining from the vote. Saddam saw the division, laughed at the U.N. and refused to allow inspectors back into Iraq. It was only after the United States, along with its true allies, decided to act did the Iraqi government have second thoughts, and allow the inspection process to be reinstated.
Once again, it is the division of the U.N. that is keeping Saddam Hussein from abiding by U.N. resolutions, and subsequently preventing peace from having a chance. Why should Saddam ever follow regulations set forth by an organization that can't even stand as a united entity? If some of its members are arguing on behalf of Iraq, what's preventing Saddam from continuing to buy time while hoping for a continuing split among the U.N. members?
At this point, there seems to be only one thing that will convince Saddam Hussein to completely disarm. It will once again fall on the shoulders of the United States and Great Britain to lead a coalition of the willing to save the world from another crazy dictator. And if that results in the downfall of the United Nations, then history will indeed have repeated itself.
