What the heck is this supposed to mean? The U.N. Security Council had a mandate in place for a 160,000-strong multinational force that it never authorized in the first place?!
You are catching on. The media told you that the UN did not "authorize" the forces. Fact of the matter is, the UN mandated the forces, AND the troop levels. Those that blame the President regarding troop levels are indeed misguided. The UN and NATO are calling more of the shots than the cheerleaders want to admit. But if one points this out, they are castigated as a terrorist sympathizer and a cut-n-runner for not blindly supporting Shiite Hezbullah via Maliki and Mookie.