Actions and policies discredit U.N.
By ISABEL LYMAN
gazettenet.com
Wednesday, October 22, 2003 -- United Nations Day, which marks the founding of the internationalist organization, is celebrated Oct. 24.
Composed of 191 member states, the United Nations was established after World War II in 1945 with the goal of maintaining ''international peace and security.'' The institution is also famous for championing ''universal respect for and observance of human rights.''
Fifty-eight years later, however, it's mostly save-the-planet globalists and members of the Big Media who buy the spin.
Merely looking at the United Nations flag, which flies in front of the Amherst Town Hall, causes my conservative friends to blow a gasket. To them, that light-blue banner symbolizes a cabal of unethical anti-American elites .
They're hardly alone in drawing that conclusion.
Earlier this year, a majority of Americans told pollsters that U.N. authorization wasn't required for the United States to act in toppling Saddam Hussein. And the once fringe Get US Out! movement is gaining credibility in Congress. The American Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003 (H.R. 1146) had 16 co-sponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives. The goal of the legislation - which failed - was to terminate the USA's participation in the world body.
Given the tens of billions of our tax dollars that have been funneled into the organization, the growing skepticism over the worthiness of U.N.-initiated endeavors is long overdue. But the diehards will always be among us. Some even live in Amherst. It is to them that I direct the following questions based on my research.
If membership in the United Nations is only open to ''peace-loving states,'' why are Syria and Libya - nations that are sponsors of terrorism - part of the member states?
Why did Syria, earlier this month, present a resolution that condemns Israel for erecting a wall to protect herself from suicide bombers?
Who gave the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) the power to designate American jewels, such as Everglades National Park, as World Heritage sites? According to Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX), ''UNESCO bypasses congressional authority to manage federal lands, including places like the Everglades, by establishing management policies without congressional consultation.''
Why did Claude Baert and Kurt Coelus, who were part of a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Somalia (1993) and were photographed swinging a Somali child over an open fire, receive only a reprimand for their despicable action from a military court in Brussels?
Why did delegates to the U.N. Earth Summit, held in Johannesburg last year, pig out on lobster and steak, while children in nearby shanty towns went hungry?
Why was Gen. Colin Powell ridiculed at the U.N. Earth Summit for complaining that Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe's land grabs have brought citizens to ''the brink of starvation''? Why is China, where ill-treatment of Chinese Christians is not a rare occurrence, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council?
Why did the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, which had a meeting this past spring in Geneva, reject a resolution that would have examined the doings of the government of pro-slavery Sudan?
Why does so little of the money, raised for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), actually make it to the youngsters, while so much of it is used for overhead costs, luxury travel, and overstaffing, according to an audit conducted by the consulting firm of Booz, Allen, and Hamilton. In 1995, The Los Angeles Times disclosed that UNICEF's Nairobi staff stole $1 million in relief funds and wasted nearly $10 million more. Writing for The New Republic, Nicholas Eberstadt notes that UNICEF's original activities of promoting sanitation, controlling diseases, and improving child nutrition have been replaced largely by declarations, summits, symposia, and policy statements.''
Why did a U.N peacekeeping mission in the province of Katanga (1961) include the bombing of civilian targets?
Why does U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan merit a mansion in New York City, a budget for security and entertainment, and a six-figure salary, when so many American jobs are going overseas?
Why didn't heads roll after former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali told the Washington Post that ''perhaps half of the U.N. work force does nothing useful''?
Why do U.N. bureaucrats receive money for their children's private-school tuition, while many of our own politicians don't support school choice for their constituents?
Last: Why do the majority of recipients of U.S. foreign aid regularly vote against our wishes in the United Nations?
By the way, if you are hunting for a worldwide organization that has a creditable track record of sticking up for the little guy while giving peace a chance, our country has a very fine one. It's called the U.S. Marine Corps.
Izzy Lyman lives with her family in Pelham. She writes a monthly column. |
