Annan spouts the party line

Why do I keep hoping against hope that the UN will figure out how to act morally? You would think after all this time they might have started to get a clue. But Kofi Annan uses the WSJ to prove that the UN still doesn't get it.

He starts off well enough by acknowledging that the Security Council faces a watershed vote. But from there he degenerates into the usual anti-American positions that have been taken by our opponents in the Security Council. Instead of dealing with the real issue of Iraq's failure to voluntarily disarm, he instead lectures about the possible downsides of a war.

We are reluctant warriors. We are not rushing into war, we have deliberated about this, we have considered all the possible outcomes, and we have decided that this is the best course of action. We don't need to be lectured. We understand what we are doing.

We also, despite all the European insistence to the contrary, know that we do not need the political blessing of the UN. UN political support will not make this venture more or less successful over the long term. What is the great threat here? Is the UN going to refuse to recognize the new Iraqi government? Are they going to continue to recognize a dead man? It will make their negotiations with him much easier, but it won't change the fact that he's till dead and unable to make a decision.

We need to walk away. The UN exists only through our good graces. We gave it its power and relevance. They have abused that power and as a result we need to walk away. There is no reason to put up with this anti-American garbage anymore.