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Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Bush at U.N. is selling a hard line
President Bush will tell the other members of the United Nations Tuesday that the organization is relevant after all -- at least when it comes to helping the United States finish what it started in Iraq.
It would have been difficult in any event to hold out much hope for Bush's success in prying troops and money out of an organization at which he thumbed his diplomatic nose. It'll be a fool's errand if, as predicted, the president will be unrepentant on his decision to go it alone in Iraq. We know it won't help, but we'd beg the president to at least acknowledge mistakes were made in the prosecution of the war and in planning for postwar security and reconstruction.
The president also is expected to give short shrift to the French proposal for almost immediate, if mostly symbolic, transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqi Governing Council and a six-to-nine-month timetable for ceding full power to the Iraqis.
On that matter, at least, Bush might be right to hold firm because an overly rigid timetable could devolve into an easy excuse for pulling out before the job is done right.
Beyond that, however, the president's speech must demonstrate that the United States is at very least willing to cede much of the non-military authority to a multinational effort directed by the United Nations.
The United States needs to get the world involved in Iraq's future. This means the president ought to be in New York City to listen as much as to talk.
We don't doubt the president's speech will be completely unapologetic, but it will be disappointing if it is not at least a little conciliatory.
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