LETTER: U.N. needs U.S. support
Editor,
I would like to respond to Wednesday’s editorial “UN-wanted: Don’t let Bush kill the U.N.” For starters, I support the United Nations and the idea of a worldwide organization to work toward that elusive goal of world peace.
I respect that the United Nations was founded to prevent oppressive dictators from committing similar atrocities to those of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.
However, the accusations that the United States’ push for war without U.N. approval will be the downfall of that organization is untrue. The United Nations has enacted its own downfall due to tip-toeing around vile tyrants in order to avoid confrontation.
The United Nations has failed not only America, but the millions upon millions of victims of genocide and other atrocities since its advent. I’m sure if you were to ask the Cambodians who died under the hand of the Khmer Rouge whether they felt the United Nations was relevant, they would say no.
As would the millions of ethnic Albanians who were killed by Serbs before the United States sent in troops to stop them. Saddam Hussein has committed the same atrocities the United Nations promises to prevent, yet the Security Council has shown itself unwilling to put an end to his tyranny.
Why could that be? Possibly because the United Nations fails to hold its members responsible for the human rights they trample in their own nations, and these countries are afraid that they might be next.
With the Russians shelling their own cities to put down uprisings and the Chinese denying their people’s rights to expression and religion, the United Nations is a paradox unto itself.
President Bush is doing a noble thing in removing Saddam from power, and I for one support him completely. As citizens and friends of the United States of America, not the United Nations, we need to examine our loyalties.
The United Nations is killing itself, and further inaction and apathy will only prolong its suffering. In waging this war the United States is upholding the mandate of the United Nations, and if that organization survives, it will be due to our actions and not their own.
Andrew Jacobson