Skip to content
quotesby

There is one compromise and one only, and that is the United Nations. If the United States and Britain go to the United Nations and the United Nations says we have concrete evidence of the existence of these weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and we feel that we must do something about it, we would all support it. ... There is no doubt that the United States now feels that they are the only superpower in the world and they can do what they like. And of course we must consider the men and the women around the president. Gen. Colin Powell commanded the United States army in peacetime and in wartime during the Gulf war. He knows the disastrous effect of international tension and war, when innocent people are going to die, young men are going to die. He knows and he showed this after September 11 last year. He went around briefing the allies of the United States of America and asking for their support for the war in Afghanistan. Dick Cheney, Rumsfeld, they are people who are unfortunately misleading the president. Because my impression of the president is that this is a man with whom you can do business. But it is the men who around him who are dinosaurs, who do not want him to belong to the modern age.

Nelson Mandela#85

International relationsWarUnited nationsIraqSovereignty

About this quote

What does it mean?
Mandela critiques unilateral US power and emphasizes UN authority for war legitimacy, while acknowledging Colin Powell's understanding of war's human cost.
In plain terms
He supports the UN deciding on war rather than single nations acting alone, noting war kills innocent people.
What can you take from it?
International institutions should legitimize military action.

Where it applies

  • foreign policy debates
  • UN speeches
  • war critiques

Putting it to work

  • advocate multilateralism
  • question unilateral action
  • highlight war costs

Questions to consider

  • Who should decide when to go to war?
  • How effective is the UN?

Another view

UN decisions can still be influenced by powerful nations.

More from Nelson Mandela

  1. Neither Bush nor Tony Blair has provided any evidence that such weapons exist. But what we know is that Israel has weapons of mass destruction. Nobody talks ab…

    Permalink to quote #84
  2. I really wanted to retire and rest and spend more time with my children, my grandchildren and of course with my wife. But the problems are such that for anybod…

    Permalink to quote #86
  3. You will notice that France, Germany Russia, China are against this decision. It is clearly a decision that is motivated by George W. Bush's desire to please t…

    Permalink to quote #83

Related quotes

  1. They use the U.N. not as an instrument for solving conflicts, but an arena for waging them.

    Abba EbanAbba Eban quote #10
  2. The invasion of Iraq will surely go down in history as one of the most cowardly wars ever fought. It was a war in which a band of rich nations, armed with enou…

    Arundhati RoyArundhati Roy quote #11
  3. While the game of deadlocks and bottle-necks goes on, another more serious game is also being played. It is governed by two axioms. One is that there can be no…

    George OrwellGeorge Orwell quote #37