The United Nations and Iraq: Defanging the Viper

Krasno and Sutterin, both political scientists at Yale, offer an in-depth study of the United Nations' Special Commission (UNSCOM) and its efforts to find and eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction in the 1990s. Drawing on documentary evidence as well as interviews with the executive directors and members of the commission, they outline the inspectors' work, Iraq's""noncompliance and untrustworthy behavior,"" and the achievements the commission had in spite of that behavior. It may seem moot at this point, given that war with Iraq is a fait accompli, but for those interested in assessing for themselves the role of UNSCOM's work, this is balanced and enlightening--if dry--reading. As the authors point out, UNSCOM was a new departure for the UN and a""model of multilateral collaboration"" that has lessons to offer for the future regarding the UN's role as an enforcement agency, the effectiveness of economic sanctions, and the importance of a""credible threat of force"" against a noncompliant country.