I have a certain amount of respect for the UN, but let's face it, they do have an intimate knowledge of "collapse."

Peacekeeping, for example, is a wonderful idea, but if you've ever spoken with a soldier that's done some peacekeeping duty, you'll hear that it's not at all the sanitary process it sounds like. It involves a great deal of shooting, more than a little killing and a generous helping of good ol' fashioned arm twisting. The UN, being a left-leaning institution, finds such practicalities distasteful and therefore keeps them under wraps.

I can't help but wonder if the primary difficulty the UN has with the US action in Iraq is more a matter of "presentation" than of substance. The UN sanctions a baseline level of violence you simply never hear about in the media, but here's the US, doing it all in the open. How unseemly! Being civilized, in UN terms, doesn't mean giving up violence, it just means sweeping it under the carpet, keeping it out of the public eye. Look closely and you'll see that the UN's silver lining is actually teflon.