Un Charter on non-self-governing territories

Article 73
Members of the United Nations which have or assume responsibilities for the administration of territories whose peoples have not yet attained a full measure of self-government recognize the principle that the interests of the inhabitants of these territories are paramount, and accept as a sacred trust the obligation to promote to the utmost, within the system of international peace and security established by the present Charter, the well- being of the inhabitants of these territories, and, to this end:

a. to ensure, with due respect for the culture of the peoples concerned, their political, economic, social, and educational advancement, their just treatment, and their protection against abuses;

b. to develop self-government, to take due account of the political aspirations of the peoples, and to assist them in the progressive development of their free political institutions, according to the particular circumstances of each territory and its peoples and their varying stages of advancement;

c. to further international peace and security;

d. to promote constructive measures of development, to encourage research, and to cooperate with one another and, when and where appropriate, with specialized international bodies with a view to the practical achievement of the social, economic, and scientific purposes set forth in this Article; and

e. to transmit regularly to the Secretary-General for information purposes, subject to such limitation as security and constitutional considerations may require, statistical and other information of a technical nature relating to economic, social, and educational conditions in the territories for which they are respectively responsible other than those territories to which Chapters XII and XIII apply.

Now, in the best of all possible worlds, the coalition would just accept that Article 73 applies to their military occupation of Iraq and would make a trusteeship agreement with the UN that could set out a number of things like how the Iraqi Interim Authority will be formed.

Having a free hand in international relations is a myth. Bush's claim that 'the course of this nation does not depend on the decisions of others' is nonsense. The Turkish parliament subjected him to its decisions when it refused transit rights for coalition forces. For that matter the UN security council subjected to him to its decisions when it refused UN sanction to the invasion of Iraq. The war may have proceeded but the rhetoric of peace was strengthened.

The world is interdependent. Once, when the US economy sneezed the global economy got a cold. Now, weirdly, China is making the rest of us cough. The Bush administration might want to live in a world where they do not depend on the decisions of others. Small children want to live in such a world as well. We expect them to grow up.