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Volume 41, Issue 2
September 16, 2003
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September 16, 2003
Stable Iraq benefits all
Preceding the war, the United States failed to convince the United
Nations to unanimously agree that a pre-emptive strike was justifiable.
Bush pushed forward and created a schism in the international organization’s
Security Council. Now the war in Iraq has removed an oppressive dictator
and his loyal regime from power. Saddam’s statue toppling in a street
filled with cheering people remains a not too distant memory for most
Americans. George Bush is a resident of Iraq; not the president but a
newborn baby named after him. A police force consisting of Iraqi citizens
has been implemented. Many vital city functions have been restored. Bush
dubbed the end of “major combat operations” back in May.
Before the war Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, warned
“there is a danger that we may retreat from some of the important
gains made during the 1990s. If there is failure to agree on a common
position (referring to the Iraq war) and some take action without the
council’s authority, the legitimacy of that action will be widely
questioned, and it will not gain the political support needed to ensure
its long-term success, after its military phase.”
Annan’s premonition is becoming a reality with 149 soldiers dead
since the invasion which claimed only 138 lives before it ended in May.
Estimated costs to rebuild Iraq have grown. Congress is requesting $87
billion more for the restructuring and continued occupation of Iraq, which
would make the total cost $160 billion.
No definitive timeline has been set by the White House for the return
of U.S. forces.
Bush is asking the United Nations to provide military aid and to help
share some of the rebuilding costs. Barring additional British troops
and a small force from Poland, U.N. members have not been jumping at Bush’s
request for assistance and have not added any military presence.
Although the United Nations will continue to have a non-military presence
in Iraq even after the recent bombing at their Baghdad headquarters, they
have not committed any of their International Peacekeeping Troops.
Creating a stable Iraq is important for the people of Iraq and is also
vital to the United States’ world relations. The rebuilding of Iraq
will be the opportunity to revitalize a cohesive United Nations or potentially
deepen the already present rift in international affairs.
Annan said recently concerning the United Nations, “It is vitally
important that the international community not allow the differences of
the past months to persist. Member states have been sharply divided about
some of the most fundamental issues that this organization was set up
to deal with.”
A divisiveness in foreign diplomacy has been created by this war and how
it is dealt with will set the stage for international relations decades
in the future.
Richard Haass, the U.S. president of the Council on Foreign Relations,
pointed out to the New York Times that although the last century has been
marked by rivalry, we are reaching a time when “War between the
major powers is all but unthinkable. It is an extraordinary time. We must
find ways to harness this cooperation for the common good.”
Stabilizing Iraq will not only benefit the United States, Iraq or the
Middle East; it will help legitimize alliances that collectively represent
the most powerful forces that have existed in human history.
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