American representative at U.N. discusses U.S. diplomatic role

As Arab and Israeli teams meet at the negotiating table today, U.S. Representative to the United Nations Thomas Pickering explained how the talks mark a new stage in the search for Middle East peace in a speech yesterday. In the speech entitled, "United States at the United Nations: The Gulf War and Its Aftermath," Pickering discussed the United Nations' past, present and future role in the world and specifically in the Middle East. "Conditions have improved and continue to improve in the area," Pickering told the nearly 350 listeners. "But we all know that the problem won't be solved without a successful peace process." In addition to discussing the Arab-Israeli conflict, Pickering explained the U.N. Security Council's effectiveness throughout the Gulf War and afterwards. He said the Security Council has a sense of cohesion since it has successfully dealt with these problems of aggression. He added that as a result of the ending of both the Gulf War and the cold war, the U.N. has discovered that international security can work. "Now the U.N. can move on to deal with cloudier, more difficult international problems," he said. "We will be depending on more nations rather than one or two for peace and security." Pickering also said the U.N. is tired of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's disregard for the assembly's agreements. "Iraq is very uncomfortable with [our demands]," he said. "This is illustrated by the forestalling of our nuclear investigations team in the parking lot. Our objective is to see Saddam gone, but, unfortunately, there is no silver bullet solution to this objective." He also said Hussein has not compensated countries suffering damages during the war. Pickering spoke for 45 minutes and then opened the floor to questions. In the question period, he addressed Bush's new world order, the future restructuring of the U.N. and the possible, yet unlikely, addition of other countries to the U.N. Security Council. Following the presentation, Pickering and former Ambassador Walter Annenberg spoke informally with students. While many students said they enjoyed the lecture, some said they were disappointed with Pickering's evading the issue of the Arab-Israeli conflict. "It is endemic to the process of diplomacy for diplomats to sidestep controversial issues," said first-year Law student Mike Kelsen. "And he did it more artfully than most. That's why he's the U.S. Ambassador." But College junior Keith Munera said he understood that Pickering could not comment on the conflict. "It would jeopardize [today's] talks," he said. "It would be silly to expect that." The presentation was sponsored by PPU, the Annenberg Institute, the International Relations Program and the Middle East Center.

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