In last week’s speech to the United Nations general assembly, President Bush begged for cooperation from the international community, asking for help to pull the United States from the quickly-deepening political quicksand called Iraqi reconstruction.

“As in the aftermath of other conflicts, the United Nations should assist in developing a constitution and training civil servants and conducting free and fair elections,” Bush said, addressing a frosty UN audience.

However, much of the trouble the United States faces in the task of rebuilding a destroyed Iraq from the bottom up could have been largely avoided by delaying the U.S. invasion until gaining broader international support.

It’s easy to understand the hesitancy on the part of countries unwilling to pledge the billions of dollars needed for reconstruction efforts, not to mention the international troops needed to replenish the efforts of the overworked U.S. military.

Without naming the United States, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan once again condemned the right of nations to use force pre-emptively, “even on the territory of other states and even while the weapon systems that might be used to attack them are still being developed.”

Bush stood behind his decision to strike pre-emptively, holding fast to the belief that Iraq was a threat to national security and the existence of the infamous weapons of mass destruction — weapons that still haven’t turned up.

French President Jacques Chirac, the ever-present bee in Bush’s bonnet, received greater applause to his own remarks, once again criticizing Bush’s actions.

“In an open world, no one can live in isolation, no one can act alone in the name of all and no one can accept the anarchy of a society without rules,” Chirac said, defining the word of the day Wednesday — “unilateralism.”

Bush and Chirac’s plans for Iraqi reconstruction are vastly different. Chirac’s demand for immediate transfer of sovereignty to the fledgling Iraqi Governing Council is irresponsible — that transfer is simply not possible yet.

But Bush’s refusal to break up the monopoly of U.S. power over the Iraqi occupation or reconstruction is just as capricious. Bush cannot expect to ask for support from the international community without a compromise of power.

Whether the international community approved of the United States’ original actions toward Iraq is sadly irrelevant now. But Bush should realize no successful plan can move forward without sensibility — and humility.

Editorial Board:Nicole Paseka, Megan Hinds, Amy Schierbrock, Alicia Ebaugh, Dan Nguyen