President Bush’s address to the United Nations went well, and while I thought he could have been more forceful, I believe he got the point across.
Saddam Hussein has consistantly and blatantly violated the terms of his post-Gulf War ceasefire agreement. At the end of the war, Hussein agreed to a set of terms for his surrender, including weapons inspections and sanctions against building his military. In the ten years following the war, the United Nations has done little as Hussein has broken nearly every one of those terms.
What President Bush is trying to do is essentially force the issue. This isn’t about US unilateralism, this is about the Hussein regime violating the terms that were agreed to by the United Nations. If the UN is unwilling to support a military action in defense of their own agreements, then what good is the UN? If they are so unwilling to support an effort to ensure that Iraq does not develop weapons of mass destruction then someone must act to perserve international security.
The UN will more than likely never support a US action against Iraq, because they have been hijacked by nations that are more interested in pushing their anti-US agendas than in maintaining world stability. What President Bush has done is stated the case for actions against Iraq on the terms of the UN – if the UN wishes to have any legitimacy they will support their own resolutions and support action to remove the Hussein regime from power.
