The UN Security Council and Iraq

M. James Wilkinson and Christopher D. O'Sullivan
Columbia International Affairs Online
February 2004

 

Abstract

The United Nations Security Council has, in the words of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, "come to a fork in the road . . . (that) may be a moment no less decisive than 1945." The US Administration precipitated the crisis when, unable to secure Council approval for using armed force against Iraq, it fashioned its own "coalition of the willing" and drove Saddam Hussein from power. The events surrounding the US action and its aftermath have spawned a vigorous debate over President Bush's policies and whether the Security Council in its present — or any other — form can play a serious role henceforth in the quest to ensure international peace and security.

Full text (PDF, 24 pages, 165.2 KB)

 

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