Hedi Annabi, the U.N. special representative killed in the earthquake, may not have been known to the public, but his mission stabilized a lawless Haiti—and his peacekeepers are leading the effort to save Haitians trapped in the rubble today.
James Traub is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine. He has written extensively about international relations, and has been covering the U.N. for over a decade. He is the author of The Best Intentions: Kofi Annan and the U.N. in the Era of American World Power. His most recent book is The Freedom Agenda: Why America Must Promote Democracy (Just Not The Way George Bush Did).