SOLO ACT.(George W. Bush at the United Nations)

Last week, President Bush came to New York to make his case--if one can call it that--for international cooperation. At the opening of the annual meeting of the United Nations' General Assembly, Bush spoke of the need for countries to combat collectively global problems such as aids, weapons proliferation, and the sex trade. He also called on "all nations of good will" to come to the aid of Iraq, observing that "every young democracy needs the help of friends." The President suggested that a useful role for the U.N. in the ravaged nation might be "training civil servants," having told Fox News the day before that perhaps the international organization could help draft a constitution for Iraq: "I mean, they're good at that." The response to the speech from General Assembly delegates was variously described in news accounts as "tepid," "perfunctory," and "chilly."

So far, at least, Bush's call for global collaboration has not been answered. The Administration wants America's allies to commit more than fifteen thousand new troops to Iraq, but after two days of meetings last week with, among others, Chancellor Gerhard Schroder of Germany and President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, the President emerged with nothing in the way of actual commitments. To make up the difference, the Pentagon may soon activate more National Guard and Reserve units. "Since it doesn't look like we'll have a coalition brigade, we have no choice but to plan for American forces," General John Abizaid, the head of the United States Central Command, said. Bush's efforts to secure monetary support have been similarly rebuffed. At a meeting scheduled for late October in Madrid, more than fifty "donor nations" are expected to pledge a grand total of perhaps two billion dollars in aid to Iraq--less than the cost of one month's occupation and a fraction of what the Administration was seeking.

It is hardly surprising, at this late date, that the President should find himself going it alone. The eighty-seven billion dollars that Bush recently requested from Congress to fund operations in Iraq and Afghanistan will, if approved, be equivalent to roughly twenty per cent of total non-defense discretionary government spending for the year. Security in Iraq nevertheless remains inadequate; more U.S. troops (a hundred and sixty-eight) have been killed since Bush declared major combat operations to be over, on May 1st, than were slain during the invasion (a hundred and thirty-eight). Just the other day, reacting to the ongoing violence and to the bombings that have killed twenty-two U.N. workers in Baghdad, Secretary-General Kofi Annan ordered the organization's already skeletal staff in the city to be further reduced. Meanwhile, Bush's approval ratings are the lowest of his Presidency, and Democrats have been emboldened to issue more and more strident denunciations. "The President of the United States asked the Congress to put up eighty-seven billion dollars to cover for his ...