by Lowman S. Henry | April 07, 2003

Time for America to get out of the United Nations

The failure of the United Nations to play a meaningful role in the weeks leading up to the war to liberate Iraq calls into question the usefulness of that organization in global affairs.

In fact, the United States should seriously consider withdrawing from United Nations as it has now proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that it has virtually no ability to have a positive impact in times of international crisis.

Over the decades the United Nations has grown into a bloated bureaucracy, unable to administer its own programs efficiently and wasting precious financial resources.

Worse, the recent diplomatic crisis has revealed the U.N. to be the Keystone Cops of global peacekeeping, unable to act or react when the going got rough. After a decade of saber-rattling resolutions over Iraq’s clear violation of U.N. mandates, the world body was clearly unable to put any bite behind its bark.

It was an appalling spectacle to watch the President of the United States virtually begging for votes from third world countries in an effort to win security council approval to protect our nation’s own vital interests.

Further, to allow a nation like France – which has contributed nothing to the world in recent years other than food that doesn’t quite fill you up – to wield veto power when its own national security was not at stake, was reprehensible. In fact, a compelling case can be made that France itself is a large part of the Iraqi problem, given that country’s unseemly business dealings with the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein.

It can also be argued that any ceding of authority by the United States to the United Nations is unconstitutional. Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey says it is “very, very tricky” to justify close ties with the United Nations while strictly adhering to the U.S. Constitution.

There can be no justification for the administration of any President to place the national security of the United States at the whim, or even under the influence, of any foreign power. In short, we must always retain the right to act in our own national interests whenever we see fit – regardless of the opinions of other nations.

That our national security is at risk so long as Saddam Hussein remains in power is without question. All too many, including misguided “peace protesters” in this country, seem to forget that Iraq is a terror-sponsoring state. It has been less than two years since thousands died in the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and on Flight 93. There will be more such attacks unless terrorism is ripped out by its roots – and Iraq is clearly one of those roots.

Looking at the two most recent American conflicts to involve broad international cooperation: the current war in Iraq, and the 1991 war to liberate Kuwait, the United States – not the United Nations – assembled the action coalition.

This again raises the question as to the value of the United Nations. The United States currently pays about a quarter of the U.N.’s budget, money that is largely wasted on pampered diplomats, and hopeless bureaucrats.

President Bush and his administration are currently focused on finding Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, bringing about regime change in that country, and on liberating the Iraqi people. A full plate by any measure. But when that task is completed, he should then turn his attention to reducing, or eliminating, American participation in a United Nations that has clearly outlived its usefulness.