An Annoying, Necessary Friend

But, for many Americans, the fear of having U.S. sovereignty compromised by the organization has always lurked in the background. In the 1950s, for example, a U.S. senator convened hearings and a federal grand jury sought testimony that questioned the loyalty of U.S. citizens who worked for the body. In later years, as resolutions cropped up in the General Assembly criticizing Washington's embargo on Cuba, and equating Zionism with racism, Congress threatened to withhold our dues. The atmosphere further soured as many newly established Third World nations denounced Western values. Most recently, of course, the Security Council withheld U.N. backing for the invasion of Iraq.

Nevertheless, despite these ongoing disputes, the United States has never been willing to risk a real rift with the U.N. Every administration in Washington gradually realizes that, without it, the U.S. could well drift alone in a Hobbesian universe of temporary alliances that could vanish at any time.

For that reason, even President Bush -- whose disagreements with the U.N. are legion, and who likes to say that if the U.N. doesn't show more "backbone" it could go the way of the League of Nations -- this year returned to the U.N. to ask its support for reconstruction and elections in Iraq. He understood that the endorsement of the Security Council automatically gives global legitimacy to our occupation.

Indeed, most presidents sooner or later begin to understand that the U.N., for all its flaws, advances rather than diminishes U.S. national security objectives. The U.N. serves as a round-the-clock diplomatic forum to stave off conflicts the U.S. desires to avoid. It handles transnational issues that Washington would prefer to duck, like environmental degradation, sexual trafficking, drug smuggling, nuclear proliferation and AIDS. Its influence around the world is enormous.

It is true that the U.S. cannot always get its own way at the U.N. But as the only superpower on the planet, as the organization's biggest donor, as the sole nation that can project power worldwide, we retain enormous influence there. So although concerns over our sovereignty may never fully abate, the record proves we have already gotten far more out of the U.N. than we have lost.