To the Point

The Future of the UN

Though the US wanted the final deadline for Saddam Hussein to avoid war by disarming to be Monday, the White House says it-s not holding fast to the deadline or the need for a new resolution. Despite today-s promise of -flexibility,- it-s no secret that President Bush and his supporters are increasingly impatient with the United Nations. Critics fault the UN-s reluctance to disarm Iraq by force as an institutional weakness that could be fatal. Supporters claim that the Security Council-s success in delaying a US attack proves the UN-s crucial role in world affairs. Is the UN becoming irrelevant or indispensable? We hear from a former US deputy ambassador to the UN, a senior advisor to the Secretary General, a senior fellow at the Brussels-based Centre for the New Europe, and the director of the World Policy Institute at the New School University in New York. Making News: Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Clears Senate President Bush is applauding the Senate for its 64-to-33 passage of a measure banning the late-term procedure that opponents call -partial birth abortion.- Now it heads to the House, which is likely to send the measure on to the White House. Debra Rosenberg, who-s following the story for Newsweek magazine, says abortion-rights advocates are already preparing their legal challenge. Reporter's Notebook: Norman Mailer on the Prospects of War Norman Mailer has been a major figure in American literature, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner and a controversial and outspoken voice in public affairs. The Naked and the Dead is based on Mailer-s experiences in World War II. Why Are We in Vietnam, was about another war and a different generation. Mailer-s latest book, The Spooky Art, is about writing, but he-d rather talk about foreign policy and possible war in Iraq.