A former United Nations official said she hopes the United States has learned from using pre-emptive military action in the Iraq war.

“I hope so,” said Gillian Sorensen, a former U.N. assistant secretary general. “It’s a very risky, very dangerous tactic.”

Sorensen, who is now a senior adviser at the United Nations Foundation and originally from Michigan, also said the thought of a pre-emptive invasion of Iran sends a shudder down her back.

The hypothetical question was posed to her during a news conference Tuesday with media at Kansas University’s Kansas Union.

Sorensen spoke later Tuesday evening at KU about the relationship between the United States and the United Nations. KU’s Peace and Conflict Studies program sponsored her speech.

While talking with reporters, Sorensen said she believed a great opportunity presented itself to the United States as a world leader if it worked closely with the United Nations and other countries.

“We won’t do that by bullying. We can’t do that by command. We do it by serving,” she said.

Some of that has already occurred with reconstruction in Iraq, Sorensen said. She described the U.N. as picking up the pieces and helping stabilize the country despite some countries not originally supporting the war.

“The reality is what we have to deal with now,” Sorensen said.

She also acknowledged that the scandal involving the oil-for-food program has damaged the United Nations recently, but Sorensen criticized the oversight role of the United States and other countries for not complaining or raising objection earlier.

“If there is a blame, that blame and responsibility should be shared,” she said.

About 100 people attended Sorensen’s talk and question-and-answer session Tuesday evening in the Woodruff Auditorium of the Kansas Union.