If any international act in the last decade is sure to generate enduring bitterness toward the United States, it is the epidemic suffering needlessly visited on Iraqis via U.S. fiat inside the United Nations Security Council.

fiat (n) : a legally binding command or decision entered on the court record (as if issued by a court or judge) [syn: decree, edict, order, rescript] – source: Cool War – Economic sanctions as a weapon of mass destruction