U.N. supervision is best chance for postwar Iraq

To the editor:

There never was much question about who would win in Iraq. The only military questions dealt with how long it would take and how many deaths would result. We are beginning to see answers: To the first, not long. To the second, many hundreds to thousands. Of course, the current confusion can still generate further anarchy and casualties, so the suffering is far from over.

However, the fact that the coalition seems to have won the war does not mean everything is either rosy or ethically resolved. Those who think this invasion was about defending our freedom (as just wars have been in the past) or about liberating Iraq for democracy have been paying attention to neither the policy of perpetual war and U.S. dominance advocated by so many Bush advisors nor the thirst for markets and oil in the interests of U.S. industry that clearly drives almost every action of this administration domestically and internationally.

The only way the Bush administration can avoid being labeled as imperialists and colonialists bent on a land and oil grab is to turn the entire political and humanitarian mess they have created over to the United Nations to supervise. The calm, thoughtful and experienced U.N. diplomats together with an international peacekeeping force have a chance of promoting a humanitarian resolution to the Iraq mess. Continued U.S. domination, however, can only inflame resentment against the United States in Iraq and throughout the Arab world.

ALAN R.P. JOURNET

Cape Girardeau