It's been a year since the Sept. 11 attacks, a year since America literally stopped functioning. For some, a year seems so long ago. For others it seems like just yesterday. One thing is for sure though, those images will always be fresh in our minds.

We all mourned on that day. But, we weren't the only ones who mourned. The world mourned with us. Everyone seemed to forget for a while that we were the only "superpower" left in the world.

Since that day, America has moved on. The rest of the world has moved on too. Much of the world has gone back to despising us and thinking of us as greedy, ungrateful, and arrogant.

Now, after restoring the Afghanistan government and defeating the Taliban, we are looking to yet another enemy in Iraq. President Bush stated that we are facing a "new kind of enemy."

In reality, the United States is dealing with an old enemy that has never left. Saddam Hussein was defeated once. After the Gulf War it was up to the United Nations to keep an eye on Hussein.

U.N. inspectors did their job by monitoring the Iraqi arsenal for a while, or at least attempting to. Today, the United Nations is nowhere to be found in Iraq.

For the past decade, the United Nations has imposed a number of sanctions on Iraq year after year. But, the sanctions have done little good. Even today, Hussein is suspected of building weapons of mass destruction to use against the United States.

Now, it seems America has few friends when it needs support the most. America has been described by other nations as the big bully. But, the rest of the world forgets that we are also the big peacekeeper as well.

So why won't the United Nations support us when it comes to Iraq?

Maybe the United Nations is trying to tell us that we should follow our own example. For years, America has been advising the world's nations to adhere to the United Nations peacekeeping mission statement.

The purpose of the United Nations, as stated in its charter, is to maintain international peace and security; in addition, to develop friendly relations among nations and to cooperate in solving international economic, social, cultural and humanitarian problems.

The United States set an example for the nations of the world to follow. Until the United States gains support from the United Nations, any action against Iraq should be avoided. By showing a little refrain, we would greatly help improve our image and possibly our global relations.

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