Spring Break
America should withdraw from the United Nations
By: Joshua Dwyer
Issue date: 11/15/04 Section: Opinion
Undeterred by the League of Nations' inability to prevent World War II, idealists formed the United Nations in 1945. Other than remaining in existence for a longer period of time, the United Nations has been a failure like its predecessor.
The time has come for the United States to completely and permanently withdraw from the United Nations and to withhold any future financial support from it and all its agencies. Since 1945, congressional records indicate that the United States has given $30 billion to the corrupt organization as it pursues a futile enterprise and undermines the sovereignty of the United States.
The United Nations has recently been criticized for its unwillingness and inability to prevent corruption within its organization. Not only was Saddam Hussein able to cheat the Oil For Food Program and steal billions of dollars, he bribed members of the U.N.'s Security Council to ensure the organization would take no military action against Iraq.
According to The Washington Times, the United States' attempts to curb the corruption of the program were resisted by the governments of France, Russia, China and Syria. It was later discovered that all of these countries were benefiting from Saddam's scam.
The United Nations' faults extend beyond naïveté. Less than a month after the 9-11 terrorist attacks, The Associated Press reported that the United Nations promoted Syria - a known sponsor of terrorism - to the powerful Security Council where it later occupied the presidency. Ironically, this is this same Security Council that is supposed to be assisting in the war on terrorism.
Troubles with leadership in the United Nations are not new. Serving as Secretary General of the organization at its founding was Alger Hiss, the infamous American diplomat who spied for the Soviet Union.
The United Nations' peacekeeping record is disgraceful as well. In a recent book detailing their experiences on several U.N. missions, authors Kenneth Cain, Heidi Postlewait and Andrew Thomson describe how the "peacekeepers" often committed atrocities of their own. Willfully ignoring genocide in the Balkans and using humanitarian aide to purchase sexual favors from 9-year-old girls in Liberia were just some of the actions of U.N. soldiers.
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