The United States is deeply engaged in discussions with United Nations members, seeking financial and military support for its operations in Iraq. According to news reports, various U.N. members are insisting — as a condition for any support — that the U.S. hand over to the U.N. a larger role in the civil administration of Iraq. But at the very same time Kofi Annan, the U.N. secretary general, is withdrawing U.N. personnel from Baghdad because it's too dangerous. This seems to disqualify the U.N. for any role in Iraq's immediate future, and one wonders what the participants in the current...