Depending on whom you talk to, the United Nations is either an obstacle to more effective security and reconstruction efforts in Iraq, or an opportunity to advance precisely these goals.
Adherents of the view that the United Nations is an obstacle cite its propensity for dilatory political wrangling, semantic hairsplitting, and diplomatic horse-trading—all much in evidence in the two months required for the United States to obtain Security Council approval on Oct. 16 of an artfully-worded resolution endorsing an accelerated process of security, reconstruction, and movement toward a sovereign Iraqi state…
Charles Wolf Jr. is a senior economic adviser and corporate fellow in international economics at RAND, and a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution.
The remainder of this op-ed can be found at nytimes.com.
This commentary originally appeared in International Herald Tribune on November 13, 2003. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis.