Will the U.N. really help?

Duke University professor Peter D. Feaver has a must-read opinion piece in today’s Washington Post concerning the involvement of the United Nations in Iraq. I’d like to excerpt the whole thing, but Feaver makes a critical point: this could be the last best hope for the U.N. to reestablish its purpose and legitimacy in the world:

Iraq is probably a must-win mission for the United Nations; the failure of its members to reach a consensus in the spring of 2003 pushed it to the brink of irrelevancy. If it finally steps up to the plate in Iraq and then fails again, it will largely lose its role as an arbiter of major global security challenges.

The United Nations could serve itself, the U.S., Iraq, and the world if it could break out of its pattern of intransigence and internal squabbling; or it can take the path of the League of Nations.

Update: Oh, nevermind.