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Jewish World Review May 9, 2001 / 16 Iyar, 5761

Michael Ledeen

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The bad guys to the rescue


http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- THE history of American foreign policy is an incredible tale of miraculous rescue missions conducted by our enemies. Left to our own devices, we will screw it up, because our culture lacks the basic elements of sound policy: geography, history, and languages. We are never ready for the next fight because Americans are the first people in the history of the world to believe that peace is the normal condition of mankind. With such a monumental stupidity at the soft core of our worldview, we fully deserve history's dustbin. But, as Napoleon rightly insisted, it's better to have lucky leaders than smart ones, and we've been very lucky in our choice of enemies.

Germany torpedoed us into World War I. Japan bombed us into World War II (just in the nick of time). Stalin dragged us into the Cold War. Saddam invaded Kuwait when we still had an army left over from the Cold War. And China, instead of whispering sweet nothings, and leaving us to our own dangerous devices, decided to bully us around. Maybe we even got the real message.

Now comes the United Nations riding to the rescue of some of our sillier policymakers, most of whom gravitate, in accordance with some fascinating principle of animal magnetism, to the Department of State. The U.N. Human Rights Commission, whose members are chosen by the holier-than-thou crowd at UNESCO, kicked us out, while making room for the monstrous Sudanese regime that combines religious repression and mass murder with trafficking in human slaves. You couldn't ask for a more explicit demonstration of all that is wrong with the "new world order" crowd, and their pathetic calls for the United States to surrender sovereignty to the U.N. and other "international organizations." Just a couple of days after the U.N. fiasco, the European Court ruled that the British Government owes money to the families of IRA terrorists killed by the British Army. This is just a warm-up for the big-time, in which the World Court will no doubt order the United States to pay huge sums to the survivors, widows, and orphans of Desert Storm, as well as the descendants of 18th- and 19th-century slaves.

The American people well understand the rottenness of the United Nations, but it still attracts a big following among the intelligentsia and such runaway do-gooders as Ted Turner, who believes that a millennium of peace can be achieved by turning over the world's destiny to Kofi Annan. It also has pockets of support within the aforementioned State Department, most conspicuously in the person of Richard Haass, the controversial nominee to head the Policy Planning staff, and simultaneously serve as our special ambassador on the Northern Ireland case. Haass is one of the most outspoken advocates of a weaker America and more powerful organizations like the U.N. He thinks we should give up our superpower delusions ("On its own, the United States can do little to promote order," he wrote recently), give up "some freedom of action," tone down our chest-pounding rhetoric, and "build or strengthen global institutions that buttress the basic principles of order...."

This sort of thing so alarmed the good folks at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that they delayed consideration of Haass's nomination. They can now ask him if he would like to reconsider these deep thoughts, in light of the U.N.'s odious action. While they're at it, they might like to ask Secretary Powell the same question, and then show they have their priorities in proper order by confirming John Bolton, who has long argued against sharing our sovereign powers with the United Nations.

Whatever Haass's destiny, we're clearly scheduled for a rip-roaring debate on the U.N., which is long-since overdue. The finest exposition of our concerns was given by Jesse Helms a year or two ago, in a memorable discourse to the U.N. delegates in New York. He pulled no punches. He told them most Americans don't like them, considering them corrupt, meddlesome, and irresponsible. He warned that they'd better clean up their carnival if they want American support.

Now we have their considered response.



JWR contributor Michael Ledeen is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and author of Tocqueville on American Character . Comment by clicking here.

Up

05/07/01: Bye-bye, Blumenthal
04/20/01: Handling China
04/11/01: EXAM TIME!
04/05/01: Chinese over-water torture
03/27/01: Fighting AIDS in Africa is a losing proposition
03/14/01: Big Bird, Oscar, and other threats
03/09/01: Time for a good, old-fashioned purge
03/06/01: Powell’s great (mis)adventure
02/26/01: The Clinton Sopranos
02/20/01: Unity Schmoonity: Sharon is defying the will of the people
01/30/01: The Rest of the Rich Story
01/22/01: Ashcroft the Jew
01/11/01: A fitting close to the Clinton years
12/26/00: Continuing Clinton's shameful legacy
12/21/00: Clinton’s gift for Bush

© 2001, Michael Ledeen