Republican lawmakers taking aim at UN

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Jan 25, 3:18 AM EST
Republican lawmakers taking aim at UN
By DESMOND BUTLER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Newly empowered Republican lawmakers are taking their first shots at the United Nations, depicting it as bloated and ineffective as they seek to cut government funding for it.

On Tuesday, a House of Representatives panel will air criticisms of the organization in a briefing that will prescribe congressional action.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who will preside over the briefing as chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs committee, is seeking cuts and has introduced a bill intended to pressure the United Nations to change the way it operates and to make dues voluntary. She also is promising investigations into possible corruption and mismanagement.

"The fact that the U.S. continues to contribute billions of taxpayer dollars every year to an unaccountable, unreformed U.N. is no laughing matter," Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., said in a statement Friday.



Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_US_UN_INVESTIGATIONS?SECTION=HOME&SITE=AP&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

---

http://www.laprogressive.com.nyud.net:8090/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/RosLehtinenBush.JPG-e1289665391561.jpeg

http://nimg.sulekha.com.nyud.net:8090/others/original700/roberto-micheletti-ileana-ros-lehtinen-2009-10-5-17-40-6.jpg

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, huddling with Honduran coup President, Roberto Micheletti
immediately after the armed kidnapping of the Honduran President, and the onset
of violent repression of the Honduran population.

[Archae]

1. In this case they may be right.

And not just right-wing.

The UN is notoriously corrupt, in a lot of their departments.

[Violet_Crumble]

4. No,, they're wrong AND nasty conservative morons...

If they were honest and had a shred of intelligence, they'd focus on trying to change the role of the US from a corrupt and disruptive presence that provides cover for its allies when they do the wrong thing, while shrieking to high heaven to punish countries that aren't their allies that do the wrong thing.

As with anyone who makes generalised stabs in the air complaining about the UN, I'm going to ask you what you propose should be done to reform the UN, and if you think it should be done away with, what do you think it should be replaced with?

[hack89]

10. A simple fix is to have diferent voting rights

depending on a country's commitment to democracy and fundamental human rights. At the present, not only are dictatorships and other authoritarian regimes welcomed, but are actually allowed to sit on Human Rights Council.

[Imperialism Inc.]

12. +1 That's the kind of reform I'd like to see too.

Of course Republicans would be opposed to anything like this. They would frame it as the world government takeover they have always warned of. What they really want is an organization where the US rules with an iron fist, or none at all.

[socialshockwave]

14. Well said

The UN premise is admirable but when they're more focused on procedure and standing then helping people, it becomes rubbish.

Also - it is corrupt.

[indimuse]

2. Good!

UN=NWO! and foreigner troops...on OUR soil!!

[Violet_Crumble]

5. Are you an isolationist?

It's just I've seen some Americans talking like that, and they're all isolationist types...

[Proletariatprincess]

3. The UN may be better off without the USA......

There could be a silver lining to this action by the right wing. The USA has become a hindrence to the original mission of the UN. I dont doubt that it has become corrupt, but so is the US foreign policy. Perhaps a different venue and absence of the USA..or at least it's reduced role in UN operations, would help the efforts to clean up the many problems.
Having said that, I believe it will do no good for the USA to divorce itself from that world body, but it may be better for the rest of the world in the long run. The USA is a declining empire and it's death throws could be even more dangerous than it already has been to the world.
The US has not been a honest player in the UN for years now. It manupulates to get it's own way and then ignores the recommendations of the rest of the world. The USA is not good at keeping it's word and is infamous for breating treaties. It is time to let the rest of the world move forward with out undue influence from the USA......

[Violet_Crumble]

6. Those photos are truly stomach-turning...

And a revolting individual like that Ros-Lehtinen is part of the mob describing the UN as bloated and ineffectual. If they'd added the words ignorant and dangerous to it, they'd be describing her to a tee...

[NeoConsSuck]

7. "Taking Aim"

"taking their first shots". Nice choice of words, in light of the recent Giffords shooting.

That would be teabagger wet dream, to storm the UN with guns blazing, and AP knows it.

I don't think I'm being overly sensitive by pointing this out.

[tanyev]

11. Yosemite John (Bolton) would be leading the charge.

“There's no such thing as the United Nations. If the U.N. secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference.”

[Judi Lynn]

13. A version of this was tried during the 1960's by Cuban "exiles."

The New York Times
December 12, 1964, page 1
Bazooka Fired at U.N. as Cuban Speaks

Launched in Queens, Missile Explodes in East River

By Homer Bigart

United Nations Headquarters was fired upon yesterday with a 3.5-inch bazooka from across the East River. The attack coincided with a demonstration by anti-Communist Cubans at the front entrance against the presence of Maj. Ernesto Che Guevara of Cuba.

A single shell from the bazooka, a portable rocket launcher used by the Army, arced across the river from Queens and feel harmlessly about 200 yards from the shore. The blast sent up a geyser of water and rattled windows in the headquarters just as Major Guevara, Havana's Minister of Industry, was denouncing the United States.

Shortly before, a hysterical woman brandishing a hunting knife with a seven-inch blade detached herself from 50 anti-Guevara pickets and tried to force her way into the front entrance. The police subdued the leather-jacketed woman, and later quoted her as saying she intended to assassinate Major Guevara.

In the sealed-off General Assembly Hall, the blast was clearly heard over the voice of Major Guevara, who was assailing United States foreign policy and rejecting a denuclearization pact for the Western Hemisphere.

He paused not a moment in his speech. Later, strolling through the delegates' lounge in his green fatigue uniform and highly polished black boots, he said, with a languid wave of his cigar, that the explosion "has given the whole thing more flavor."

But the police saw no humor in the incident. Had the rocket shell crashed against the glass-and-concrete facade of the headquarters building, there would almost certainly have been casualties. The rocket launcher was found abandoned directly opposite the United Nations in a weed-strewn lot on the east bank of the East River. The device consisted of a tube about three feet long which was bound by ropes to a crate filled with ballast. It had a sighting device, which, according to the police, was fixed on the misty silhouette of the 38-story United Nations Headquarters.

It was fired, apparently by a clock-like device, at 12:10 P.M. At that time a noisy demonstration in front of the United Nations Headquarters was at a peak of tension. The crowd of Cuban exiles was hurtling curses at the police, who, at the time were carrying away Molly Gonzales, the woman who said she wanted to cut down Major Guevara with a hunting knife.

More:
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/belligerence/bazooka.htm

[Hubert Flottz]

8. That would make it easy for the next Bush to invade at will...

without all the questions.

[pampango]

9. John Birch Society anyone?

A sign advocating America's withdrawal produced by the John Birch Society.

Wiki: "The society says it is anti-totalitarian, particularly anti-socialist and anti-communist. It seeks to limit the powers of government and defends the original intention of the U.S. Constitution, which it sees as based on Christian principles. It opposes collectivism, including wealth redistribution, economic interventionism, socialism, communism, and fascism. In a 1983 edition of Crossfire, Congressman Larry McDonald (D-Georgia), then its newly appointed president, characterized the society as belonging to the Old Right rather than the New Right.

The society opposed aspects of the civil rights movement in the 1960s because of its concerns that the movement had communists in important positions - for instance, in August 1965, the JBS ran a full-page ad in many U.S. newspapers entitled “What’s Wrong With Civil Rights?” and one of the answers provided by the JBS was: “For the civil rights movement in the United States with all of its growing agitation and riots and bitterness, and insidious steps toward the appearance of civil war, has not been infiltrated by the Communists, as you now frequently hear. It has been deliberately and almost wholly created by the Communists patiently building up to this present stage for more than thirty years.” The society opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, saying it was in violation of the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and overstepped the rights of individual states to enact laws regarding civil rights. The society is against "one world government", and has an immigration reduction view on immigration reform. It opposes the United Nations, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), and other free trade agreements. The society argues that there is a devaluing of the U.S. Constitution in favor of political and economic globalization, and that this trend is not an accident. It cites the existence of the Security and Prosperity Partnership as evidence of a push towards a North American Union.

Characterizations and Criticism

It has been described as "ultraconservative", "far right", and "extremist". The Southern Poverty Law Center, lists the society as a "'Patriot' Group". Its definition of patriot groups includes: "Generally, Patriot groups define themselves as opposed to the 'New World Order' or advocate or adhere to extreme antigovernment doctrines"."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Birch_Society

Hadn't heard from the JBS in a long time. I remember years ago that they were very vocal about the US withdrawing from the UN. Can a Ros-Lehtinen statement against the mythical North American Union be far behind. Thought maybe the JBS was defunct, but their ideology apparently is not.

[happyslug]

15. John Birch would feel right at home in the John Birch Society

For more on John Birch (Time Magazine article from 1961):
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,872243,00.html

More on John Birch's attack on Baptists Professors at Mercer Collage:
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-1448
http://ja-jp.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=24750237035&topic=5824

Yes, even Baptists who went to a Baptist Collage considered John Birch a nut. John Birch caused enough problems to force the School to bring "Hersey" charges against four of its School Professors, and then subsequently dismissed the charges at trial. While John Birch graduated number one in his class, his bring Hersey charges against the Theology Professors just shows how far to the right he was compared to other Fundamentalists.