WASHINGTON – 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 the 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, 88 percent 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 U.N. authorization.

And on the still-contentious issue of governance and reconstruction in post-war Iraq, 54 percent of Americans think that while the United States should provide security in Iraq, that the United Nations – 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 United Nations, 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 U.N. inspectors in disarming dictators. It is clear to all that U.N. 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 United Nations 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 11 that refused to vote with the United States in the U.N. Security Council, rejected this doctrine, saying it increases insecurity and inequality around the world. Now the United Nations 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 United Nations has reinforced democracy in several countries. By standing up to the United States at the United Nations, 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 United Nations 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 United Nations in the reconstruction of Iraq or to fail to cooperate fully in other areas.

The U.N. has the credibility in the region and the expertise in Iraq enabling it to do a far better job than the Pentagon and its handpicked Iraqi exiles.

In opposing the Bush administration, U.N. 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.

Phyllis Bennis is a fellow at the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies. John Cavanagh is director of the Institute for Policy Studies.

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