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After issuing an ultimatum to the United Nations (UN) Security Council to reach consensus on endorsing war against Iraq, the US President George W. Bush appeared empathic to give Iraqi President Saddam Hussein a 48-hour deadline in his televised address to avoid the military strike his country is going to lead.
Bush called March 17 a "moment of truth" -- his patience to wait for a green light from the Security Council for war has run out.
He pressed for an endorsement from the Council. His attempt folded and here is the moment of truth.
But the truth is that there is no "broad coalition" as he assumed behind his ultimatum and motivation for war. That is why the three pro-war countries -- notably the US, Britain and Spain -- decided not to put their new resolution for a vote in the council.
Still, there is no automatic authorization of war against Iraq in the Security Council's Resolution 1441.
While labeling Saddam a "tyrant," "thug" and "evil man" in his televised address, Bush could not hide his dictatorial rhetoric for the international community.
The day before the address, Bush said, "I was the guy who said we should vote (at the UN) and one country showed their card."
So the truth is clear: Other members of the international community should follow his country, whose judgment becomes the rule.
And he went even further by telling the Iraqis what they should do and should not do while the US attacks their country.
"And all Iraqi military and civilian personnel should listen carefully to this warning: In any conflict, your fate will depend on your actions," Bush intimidated.
Playing a liberator of the Iraqi people by telling them to take care of their oil wells, he warned them not to resist the US attacks.
If so, "war crimes will be prosecuted, war criminals will be punished and it will be no defense to say, 'I was just following orders,'" Bush foreboded.
The truth is that to Bush, all other nations seem to be his subjects.
"Before the day of horror can come, before it is too late to act, this danger will be removed," Bush alerted. "The United States of America has the sovereign authority to use force in assuring its own national security."
Every nation has its sovereign authority to defend itself. The point is that no such threat to US national security is imminent.
The UN Charter outlaws the use of force with only two exceptions: Individual or collective self-defence in response to an armed attack and action authorized by the Security Council as a collective response to a threat to the peace, breach of the peace or act of aggression. There are currently no grounds for a claim to use such force in self-defence.
We have every reason to ask what the real threat to the world is: Weapons of mass destruction in Iraq -- still unproved -- or the US condescension to all other member states and disdain for international law?
What the United States is doing is putting the UN to shame.
(China Daily March 19, 2003)
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