Tom,

Internationalizing the reconstruction of Iraq is the absolute best thing we can to bring peace and stability to the country. It lightens our own load in terms of lives and dollars and increases the stake the rest of the world has in rebuilding the country. More importantly, it offers to Iraqis and Arabs in the region a ubiquitous global face - that's a powerful commitment. So long as this remains an American "occupation," our motives among these people will be suspect and we will remain the target of enmity and more. Iraq will be a place of perpetual tit-for-tat violence, not unlike the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.

This, of course, is precisely why we needed UN support for the war in the first place. A true show of international support for regime change would would have improved conditions for reconstruction. Instead we squandered our credibility by asserting erroneous and trumped up claims about non-existent weapons of mass destruction. When our inability to make a compelling case on those counts proved obvious, we chose to go it alone, like the selfish kid down the block who takes his ball home when he doesn't like the rules of the neighborhood game. To the rest of the world, our action appeared childish, arrogant and dangerous. Maybe that's not important to you, but it should be.

Now that Mr. Bush is realizing how badly he has miscalculated, he is courting the UN - effectively asking for forgiveness. Trust me, you won't read it on page one, but there will be deals made behind the scenes in order to secure the UN resolution he so desperately needs now. Bush knows that if things in Iraq don't improve substantially and quickly, his reelection plans are toast. Even those in his own party are extremely nervous about what could lie ahead: Congress seeks Bush’s Iraq strategy.

But the most serious problem with our walking out on the UN is its implications for the future in other regions of the world. Iraq was really not a serious threat to American interests. But North Korea and Iran are. And we still haven't finished the job in Afghanistan. We may comfort ourselves that we are the world's only superpower, but we kid ourselves if we don't think we need the rest of the world shoulder to shoulder.

Donald