I lived to tell the tale
It wasn't last year's bomb but American policy which destroyed the UN's hopes in Iraq
by Salim Lone, former director of communications for the UN mission in Iraq

August 19 2003 is a pivotal moment UN history, not merely because of the unprecedented viciousness of the attack, but because of the lack of an Iraqi, Arab and Muslim outcry over the atrocity. This near silence exposed the depths to which the organisation's standing had sunk in the Middle East a result of its inability to contain or even condemn the militaristic excesses of US and Israeli policies in the post-9/11 period. The UN is generally considered to be too willing to do the US's bidding, and its rare challenge on the Iraq war authorisation was quickly forgotten once subsequent resolutions pushed the American project in Iraq.

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