whose mandate?

Well said -
anyway, that was the mandate at least on paper, but the real intent was 
always the rubbery one you mention. The US funds the UN only as a rubber 
stamp; the US manages to use the UN to support whatever it wants, and veto 
whatever it doesn't want; from the start, the US railroaded the  young UN 
into the creation of Israel, and the UN has remained powerless to hinder 
its further expansion. All the while, paradoxically, America harbors a 
fanatical stream of opinion at home that believes the UN is taking over the US!

At 09:11 27.9.02 -0600, you wrote:
>Not to mention the UN mandate was "to prevent the scourge of war", not to
>rubber stamp the Empire of the United States of America.