The UN failed to play its role at a crucial stage and therefore the world order was at stake. Aside from this criticism, no sympathetic tone for the UN has been registered so far and everybody seems to have reached the conclusion that it is the UN that has to be blamed for what has been done to Iraq. But, have we given enough contemplation to the Iraq issue and thought how far the UN could be responsible for the aftermath in Iraq? What has really prompted us to come to this state of criticising the UN? Or have we considered the existing tug of war between the UN and the principles of the United States' Republican Party? I think not! If we did, it would not have been possible for us to come down on the UN so harshly-- I believe. Let's throw some light on the matter.

The UN is an international organisation that came into existence after the end of the Second World War with the commitment of wiping out the shortcomings and weakness of the League of Nations. Though this organisation has expanded its branches in different levels from development of poor countries to providing education to reach out to the underprivileged children world wide, yet maintaining world peace and security has been recognised as its chief motto since the advent of the UN. Till now, the UN has not recoiled from this commitment. History gives us evidence of what the UN has given out and provided to the countries where UN intervention was needed.

When the attack on Iraq had begun, we , all peace-loving people around the world, were shocked and numbed seeing the intensity of cruelty and barbarity of the USA-UK combined forces.

At this stage of civilisation, we are not used to seeing children being killed and injured, women screaming around and men being shot mercilessly. This shock has cast a deep sympathetic impression in our minds for Iraq , but we failed to express our anger as we have nothing with us to prevent the US and the UK from executing this brutality. We felt downcast which has propelled us to throw invectives against The UN. We raised questions as to why the UN secretary general had failed to express his reaction at a crucial moment , why the UNSC could not take a strong initiative to prevent the coalition from attacking Iraq, why the UN could not be a stumbling-block in their way to demolition of Iraq, and so on.

But one thing that we have never considered is that the US , especially after the downfall of the Soviet Russia, ignores the UN and this trend is still very much on. Even when the Democrats were in power in the US, they toned down , but did not abandon the policy of ignoring the UN. They have always tried to show off how important they are in world politics and as a lone superpower, they have the authority, as they think, to dominate world politics.

The Republican Party has been critical of the UN for long. Ever since Ronald Reagan became President, their step-motherly attitude towards the UN has increased and it has never changed. Even after Reagan left, the high-ups of the party formulated a scheme to minimise the power of the UN, though due to the Democrats' surprise win in the election , their plan could not see light. But the arrogance of the party to look down upon the UN has not disappeared.

So, the party ideologies might have made some impact on the Bush-led war on Iraq. Here Bush administration's megalomaniac philosophy is more responsible for the demolition of Iraq rather than the ineffectiveness of the UN. Moreover, The UN is limited in power in certain areas. It cannot take control of any situation as long as an agreement among the member countries is not reached. Unfortunately, many countries in the world do not want to earn the wrath of the US and they pour down their pent-up anger on the UN instead. So, It is very much injudicious for us to castigate the UN on such a scale without having given much attention to the global geo-politics and political economy.

Now, many people, including some scholars, have gone so far as to demand a ban on the UN. I find this suggestion patently ludicrous. They have forgotten the glorious history of the UN. You cannot count the score on one failure. Imagine a situation without the UN. What would have happened then? Would the USA or the UK bother about the hue and cry of the developing countries? Could any country give guarantee of world peace and security? Don't you think the moral question of whether a war is justified or not wouldn't have been raised at all?

The UN must stay intact and continue playing its role to keep the world safe and secure.