Posted on: Saturday, September 14, 2002

Bush must not trifle with U.N. initiative

Putting the best light on President Bush's speech to the United Nations Thursday, it's encouraging that he said he'd rather lead a coalition of nations against Iraq than go it alone, and he seemed to indicate a willingness to try measures short of outright war first.

He certainly made a strong case that, as Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has flouted at least 10 U.N. resolutions since the 1991 gulf war, the very credibility of the principle of international organization is being tested. Certainly the Security Council will have failed if it simply votes out another unenforceable resolution.

But Bush appeared to undermine his own initiative when he implied yesterday that the entire exercise at the U.N. would amount to a waste of time — because Saddam's compliance is "highly doubtful" — and he mocked American lawmakers who are waiting for U.N. action before a congressional vote to confront Saddam.

Bush has yet to present a case for haste; he has yet to present any evidence of urgency that didn't exist, for example, two years ago when he was a candidate.

Bush's U.N. speech was eloquent and powerful. But what this president seems to lack at the moment is a healthy respect for the things that unexpectedly can go badly wrong in battle, and a conviction that war must be the option of last resort.