Keith Devens .com - Weblog: James rips into the U.N.

Wednesday, March 12, 2003

James rips into the U.N.

James Snell has some harsh words for the U.N. And he's right on.

The U.N. has failed to live up to its own Charter. It refuses to enforce its own resolutions in order to protect the status quo. It ignores the suffering of the Iraqi people in order to protect the status quo. It considers the lack of conflict between nations more important than the guarantee of freedom for all individuals in all nations. In short, the U.N. has become a collection of impotent bureaucrats unwilling to back up its own will. In fact, over the past decade, the U.N. has failed to demonstrate that it even HAS a will beyond maintaining the status quo.

Plus, a criticism which hits home, and is also exactly right. Listen up!

Another failure has been made on the part of the American people. As a whole, we have failed to realize that the Constitution trumps the United Nations. And the Constitution requires that the President protect the United States from all enemies. The Constitution does not require the President to seek U.N. permission to protect the country against what the President perceives to be a threat.

This is taking too damn long, and things are getting worse. Oh, and I heard today that the Pentagon dispatched a contingent of lawyers to the Middle East to counsel our troops on the legality of their actions. "Mr. General, if you bomb Iraq's weapons factory that Saddam built under that hospital, it'll be a war crime". Aaaaargh...

Permalink | 3 Comments | Tags: Opinions/Politics | id 3568

02:01 (utc-5)
edited: 02:05 (utc-5)

Comments

JL wrote:

Yes, we're in so much danger in our cozy country halfway across the globe. Saddam has been playing the same games for 12 years, yes - but all of a sudden we can't wait another week. We gotta bomb them now! Please. So let's see: we can either 1) keep Iraq in check while the inspectors look for his weapons. Sure he has some, but we need to prove it. If it takes years, so what? Or we can 2) start dropping bombs and kill thousands of innocent people and further fuel Anti-Americanism across the globe. People don't hate us enough yet - let's do more stupid things and make it worse. I don't understand you right-wing warmongers.

∴ JL | 12-Mar-2003 8:17am est | #1534

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110003184

Sometimes it may be necessary to use force to deal with threats to the peace--and the charter makes provision for that. But war must always be a last resort. It should be used only when every reasonable alternative has been tried--in the present case, only if we are sure that every peaceful means of achieving Iraq's disarmament has been exhausted. The United Nations, founded to "save succeeding generations from the scourge of war," has a duty to search for a peaceful solution until the last possible moment.

Has that moment arrived? That is the decision that the members of the Security Council now face. It is a grave decision indeed. If they fail to agree on a common position, and some of them then take action without the council's authority, the legitimacy of that action will be widely questioned, and it will not gain the political support needed to ensure its long-term success, after its military phase.

If, on the other hand, the members of the council can come together, even at this late hour, and ensure compliance with their earlier resolutions by agreeing on a common course of action, then the council's authority will be enhanced, and the world will be a safer place.

∴ ideoplastos | 12-Mar-2003 11:54am est | http://www.ideoplastos.net | #1535

ideoplastos didn't make it clear that his entire post was made up of quotes from the article. At least I didn't realize it until I saw everything quoted on his site.

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