From his “groveling at the U.N.”:http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/09/20030923-4.html (emphasis mine):
bq. And because there were consequences, because a coalition of nations acted to defend the peace, and the _credibility of the United Nations_, Iraq is free, and today we are joined by representatives of a liberated country.
From “just over a year ago”:http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/09/20020912-1.html:
bq. The conduct of the Iraqi regime is a threat to the authority of the United Nations, and a threat to peace. Iraq has answered a decade of U.N. demands with a decade of defiance. All the world now faces a test, and the United Nations a difficult and defining moment. Are Security Council resolutions to be honored and enforced, or cast aside without consequence? _Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding, or will it be irrelevant?_
The clear implication being that if it doesn’t support Washington’s push for war, it will be irrelevant. I don’t usually consider things irrelevant but then worry about talking about their “credibility”.
And here’s another one, “from last February”:http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/02/20030209-1.html:
bq. And the inspectors have gone to Iraq, and it is clear that not only is Saddam Hussein deceiving, it is clear he’s not disarming. And so you’ll see us over the next short period of time, working with friends and allies and the United Nations to bring that body along. And it’s a moment of truth for the United Nations. _The United Nations gets to decide, shortly, whether or not it is going to be relevant, in terms of keeping the peace, whether or not its words mean anything_.
But one thing is certain, for the sake of peace and for the sake of security, the United States and our friends and allies, we will disarm Saddam Hussein if he will not disarm himself.
Again, the clear implication is that if the UN doesn’t take the US’s stance on things, it’s…
Wait, I just realized–by launching on this bit of imperial adventuring, Bush probably _has_ reinforced the credibility of the UN…by showing it as a clear antidote to unilateral preemptive imperialist bullshit.
