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Finally, Annan says something insightful

http://reuters.myway.com/article/20050222/2005-02-22T072411Z_01_N21488854_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-UN-ANNAN-DC.html
Funny quote of the article:

Quote:

"I have served the U.N. all my life. I have done, and am still doing, everything I can to correct its imperfections, and to improve and strengthen it," he wrote in an opinion piece. "And I believe profoundly in the importance of that task, because a strong U.N. is of vital importance to humanity."

The important part:

Quote:

"The war in Iraq two years ago caused many people on all sides to lose faith in the U.N.," he wrote.
...
"Precisely because the United Nations did not agree on some earlier actions in Iraq, today it has much needed credibility with, and access to, Iraqi groups who must agree to join in the new political process if peace is to prevail.

He's exactly right, because the UN failed to deal with Iraq they lost credibility. Because of their inaction, we built our own coalition to deal with Iraq, making the UN look like a bunch of pansies.

The UN long ago could have said, "alright, Saddam. Time's up." and developed a plan to force inspections or remove him. They didn't, and it hurts their credibility.

From reports I'm reading from Iraqi bloggers and US servicemen in Iraq, the Iraqis remember very vividly Oil-for-Fraud, the UN's complicity in Saddam's regime, allowing genocide to continue for a decade, and providing a forum for profiteers to stymie US efforts to stop Hussein and liberate them.

The UN quickly high-tailed it out of Iraq when it got tough; now they want to re-enter to "legitimize" our efforts, which really amounts to providing them with some scrap of legitmacy.

Just wondering how highly the UN is though of in Rwanda, Darfur, Bosnia, Congo, etc.

JP