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US declaration of war: Moment of truth

Harun ur Rashid
***Ironically September 11, 2001 was a moment when a new US could have been born, a country which could have united international community in its search for waging war against terrorism. Instead the US appears to be unnecessarily aggressive, unilateralist and is dividing the international community.***
ON 17 March, President Bush gave an ultimatum to President Saddam Hussein to go into exile within 48 hours or face war at his (Bush's) own time of choosing. Iraq rejected the demand. It is sad for international community, the UN and NATO that a second Gulf War has began without UN authority.
It is a moment of truth for unilateralist policy of the US -- its go-it-alone approach towards Kyoto Protocol, International Criminal Court, and side tracking of the Biological Weapons Conven-
tion has now catapulted to declaration of war.
It is a moment of truth for the US, because it realised that despite being the lone superpower, international community representing in the UN Security Council did not back the US for a second UN resolution allowing military force
against Iraq. Despite its military and economic power the US could not secure small countries to support its stance against Iraq. Furthermore in its own sphere of influence in Latin America, the US failed to receive support from Chile and Mexico.
This is a moment of truth for the US foreign policy: Last September President Bush told the General
Assembly that the US was willing to go through the process of the UN. Now it has abandoned the UN because it could not secure nine votes for US policy despite its alleged bribery, bullying and bugging of small uncommitted six nations. It demonstrates that small nations have self-respect and
national interests that money cannot buy.
It is a moment of truth for the US: It appears that the US President has been placed in such an awkward position that he could not visit any European capital for the Summit but had to select a site on a secluded Portuguese island in the mid-Atlantic, the US base, for a summit. It appears that the Presi-
dent of the superpower had to shun people for a policy which has attracted worldwide condemnation.
This is a moment of truth for the US because the war denies moral and legal legitimacy. The UN Secretary General questioned the legality of the war against Iraq.
This is a moment of truth for the US: Its great allies and NATO partners France and Germany and Turkey deserted the US. They deserted because war against Iraq without the UN is illegal and immoral. France, Germany and Russia wanted a second resolution to disarm peacefully. They wanted the UN inspectors to be given a chance to disarm Iraq peacefully. But the US did not agree with them.
This is a moment of truth for the US because it completely undermined the concept of collective security incorporated in the UN Charter by one of the founders, US President Roosevelt, after the Second World War. It has turned the international security system into turmoil and no one knows its
consequences. Multilateralism to global security issues will receive a deadly blow as it is embodied in the universally recognised acceptance of the UN Charter.
It is a moment of truth for the US because it will increasingly find itself isolated from mainland Europe. The war demonstrates that Europe's "soft power" of rules and process within the framework of
the UN is opposed by the US's hard power. The Franco-German-Russian axis emerges a counterpoint to the US in international security system.
It is a moment of truth for the US because strong Atlantic ties depend upon a US commitment to multilateral cooperation. This is a critical moment of the post-Cold War era where a new world order is in jeopardy by the declaration of war. Some say that the US action may initiate " the New World Odour", that will smell even more malodorous than that of during the Cold War era.
Ironically September 11, 2001 was a moment when a new US could have been born, a country which could have united international community in its search for waging war against terrorism. Instead the US appears to be unnecessarily aggressive, unilateralist and is dividing the international community.
Barrister Harun ur Rashid is a former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva.