Though I would ask all Freepers to avoid any references to U.N. mandates when it comes to this topic. Just as the United States should never be constrained by the U.N. in pursuing its own interests in the world, neither should it ever use a "mandate" (or even 10,000 mandates) from that useless organization to justify military action. You're right about that. However, Bush SR's pursuit of the UN mandate when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990 brought us where we are today. Thus this is a continuation of the Gulf War, which ended with a ceasefire in 1991. The terms of which specified Saddam's immediate disarmament of all weapons of mass destruction.
You're right. What is interesting, though, is that I was critical of George Bush Sr. in 1991 for the same reason I've been critical of George W. Bush in 2003 -- If it is in the best interests of the U.S. to wage war against a foreign nation, then why get the U.N. involved in the first place? Look at the difficult position that President Bush now finds himself in -- after making that case that it was important to go through the U.N., he now has to explain why it is important to ignore them.
And even if we were able to secure U.N. approval, why the heck would we ever want the U.N. to enforce a cease-fire agreement under any circumstances?