I know a fellow, a civilian, who worked for the UN in Bosnia. He placed his life on the line day-in and day-out for a couple of years, in the interests of trying to make a horrible situation survivable. He didn't carry a gun, didn't wear body armor, avoided landmines by knowing where to walk instead of by using a detector. He had a walkie-talkie which worked a small percentage of the time.

He made it through by forging working relationships with the people of the area. He talked to them, lived among them, gained their trust with honesty, tried to encourage them to shoot less and talk more. He was backed-up (at some distance) by soldiers, but things would have had to get very dicey before he'd ever have called them in. As it turns out, he never did. The ultimate goal of his mission was to observe and verify fair elections.

The whole point is, he wasn't a warrior. He didn't operate by exerting obvious force. He wasn't there to coerce people at gunpoint into doing anything in particular. He succeeded without once threatening to shoot anyone.

The UN manages to do it's work while being undermined and disparaged by the most powerful nation on the planet. Imagine how effective it might become if the US were to lend its voice and its weight as a participant among equals.