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Interview: Edwin Smith on U.S. Lobbying for U.N. Support of War Against Iraq
Morning Edition: October 1, 2002
 U.N. & Military Action
BOB EDWARDS, host:
The Bush administration continues to lobby members of the UN Security Council to support possible military action against Iraq, but the White House has said the United States is prepared to lead a coalition against Saddam Hussein with or without UN support. Edwin Smith is professor of law and international relations at the University of Southern California. He says this wouldn't be the first time America's decided to act alone.
Professor EDWIN SMITH (University of Southern California): More often than not, the US determines that it wants to send its troops to a place like Grenada or a place like Panama. But since the end of the Cold War, there has been somewhat more interest in utilizing the UN because it's possible to get the kind of supporting force that was just absolutely unavailable during the Cold War. And it became quite clear, during the Gulf War, that the US needed some support for a unilateral action it tried to take within the Persian Gulf.
EDWARDS: Has the United States acted in defiance of the UN?
Prof. SMITH: There have been a number of occasions where the US has decided to move forward without pursuing specific UN support. They have inferred continued support from prior UN decisions. The refusal of the UN to oppose the no-fly zone and other actions with regard to Iraq led the US to infer that it still had authority to use cruise missiles against Iraq. Now all of these questions, with regard to the support of the UN, are only relevant after the Gulf War. Prior to the Gulf War, the US would not even have considered the possibility.
EDWARDS: The US is not alone in acting without UN support, right?
Prof. SMITH: The US is the most active actor. Certainly, the Soviet Union did not seek UN support for going into Afghanistan originally. They certainly didn't seek UN support for going into Hungary or Czechoslovakia earlier in the Cold War. And France has not been totally consistent about seeking UN support in going into Francophone Africa to support or oust some of those regimes.
EDWARDS: Critics of the UN say it often lacks leadership, and that's why the US has to step in and act.
Prof. SMITH: It is unrealistic to expect the UN to assert leadership. As Kofi Annan and Perez de Cuellar and Boutros-Ghali have said time and time again, `The UN is made up of member nations.' The secretary-general of the UN is not a leader, as such, from a political point of view. He is a lead persuader, not a decision-maker of a sort that could determine what the UN ought to do.
EDWARDS: Now what are the stakes this time if President Bush were to strike Iraq without UN and world approval?
Prof. SMITH: I think the states can be quite high. We could not, at this stage, develop an ongoing and reliable state in Afghanistan. It would be far more complicated in Iraq if we tried to do it alone.
EDWARDS: Is there greater concern for support from the world powers than there is for support in the Arab world?
Prof. SMITH: Yes, there is, because the kind of support we could get from the world powers may well mute opposition in the Arab world. Remember, when you talk world powers, you're talking China. Were China to be supportive of this situation, we would find ourselves in a relatively more legitimate situation.
EDWARDS: Are there other factors the US needs to consider, as it pushes for support for action against Saddam Hussein?
Prof. SMITH: Yes, I think there are other factors, and those factors are how we could arrange a very serious and effective inspection regime. Some people say it would be impossible. Some people believe that, with forcible inspections and with free access all around Iraq, we might be in the position of ensuring that there was no near-term production and potential distribution going on. We need to think about what we could accomplish with inspections before we reject the idea out of hand.
EDWARDS: Edwin Smith is a professor of law and international relations at the University of Southern California.
The time is 19 minutes past the hour.
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