Why we continue to tolerate disrespect and downright hostility from the majority of the United Nation’s membership is beyond comprehension. In a recent display of contempt for the United States, the leaders of Iran, Venezuela and Sudan, speaking before the UN General Assembly, openly insulted our nation, our President and our motives.

The UN’s many failures have been graphically illustrated by their unwillingness to intervene in some of the world’s most tragic crises, such as Rwanda and Sudan, which “Kofi Annan called the site of the world’s greatest humanitarian disaster.”

Approximately 25% of the UN’s budget is funded by the U.S, at an estimated annual cost of between $3 billion and $5 billion. And, although we also give significant foreign aid to many of its members, there is a long list of nations that generally vote against us in the UN, which includes most of those who receive financial aid from us.

In addition to financial aid, the U.S. also provides substantial scientific, technological, health care and educational support to nations around the world that often actively work against our interests. The list of nations that oppose us at the UN while reaching for our national wallet includes Kuwait, Qatar, Morocco, United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, Yemen, Algeria, Oman, Sudan, Pakistan, Libya, Lebanon, Syria, Mauritania and perhaps most troubling, Saudi Arabia, which
votes against us 73% of the time.

When will our leaders face the fact that these countries are not our friends?

Europeans have long accused the U.S. of being naïve in the conduct of foreign policy. In their view, we have never been willing to recognize that self-interest takes precedence over all other considerations in international affairs, that fairness, honesty, and even national honor are trumped by political or economic advantage. The conduct of the French in the run up to the Iraq war is a classic example of the sort duplicity that results from such thinking. And, the collective attitude of the UN’s member nations clearly reflects this philosophy.

America has fostered the growth of the UN’s giant bureaucracy in our midst. It is accountable to no one, and we have permitted the people who run and staff it to create a system of generous rewards and perks for themselves, all supported by our tax dollars. The UN’s compensation and benefits plans provide a lifestyle and a retirement program for the individuals involved that they could never achieve in their own countries. In short, it has become a gravy train for many of the world’s worst tyrants and petty politicians.

We now know that Iraq’s “oil for food” program included graft on a magnitude rarely seen before. Established to benefit the Iraqi people, it was corrupted by Saddam Hussein and his willing accomplices in the UN, along with such member nations as France, to the tune of over $10 billion.

Jill Labbe of the Fort Worth Star Telegram highlighted the UN’s questionable and self-serving conduct in Iraq, pointing out, among other things, that:

• “France was sending boats and boat accessories as ‘relief items’ in exchange for access to Iraq’s oil reserves.”
• “U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan personally OK’d $20 million in ‘humanitarian aid’ for one of Saddam’s sons, to construct an Olympic sports complex.” (Who tortured and murdered Iraq’s athletes for failing to measure up to his expectations)

UN career diplomats live “high on the hog,” while consistently working against America’s national interest, all on our nickel. Make that our billions.

The fact that we are constantly being told how much the rest of the world hates us is frequently cited as evidence of how wrongheaded our policies are. We are also told we should be more sensitive to the feelings, beliefs and values of others. That’s supposedly the reason the Muslims and so many other people around the world hate us. In other words, it’s our fault they are so hostile toward us. Really.

Who’s more sensitive to the values of others? Those Islamic Fundamentalists who are attempting to destroy our society, who behead innocent and helpless victims and murder women and children for no reason other than to terrorize – or Americans, who have been doing everything possible to help free those held in bondage? Is America, with its multi-cultural society, where all religions and cultures are accepted, really such an insensitive society compared to those of the people who criticize us so vehemently?

I don’t know about you, but I will take America, with all its faults, over those societies elsewhere in the world that continue to enslave, murder and victimize their own and other peoples for personal power and gain. If we are so terrible, why are so many people trying to leave their own countries and get into ours?

Here’s what I would like to see happen:

• No more free lunch for the UN and those nations around the world that continue to take from us while denigrating and harming Americans, that accept our treasure without so much as a thank you, all the while complaining that we’re the cause of the world’s ills and, no matter how much we spend to help others, it’s never enough.
• No more ignoring parking tickets in Manhattan, at the cost of millions of dollars to New York City.
• No more unlimited diplomatic immunity, which has been used as cover for spying.
• No more Koffi Annan and his ilk telling us that the war in Iraq is illegal, while the organization he heads was going through the charade of investigating itself in the very scandal from which it pocketed $2.2 billion in administrative fees and in which his son has been suspected of having personally participated.
• No more seeking the U.N.’s approval in order to take actions we consider necessary for our own security and well being.

How do we do this?

Here’s how: Withdraw from the UN, tell them to move out of the U.S. – and stop giving them money.

Being patient beyond reason and understanding is stupidity. At what point do we decide we’ve had enough? If not now, when?

When we try to please everyone, we please no one. Leadership is not about being liked or loved? It’s not a popularity contest. It’s about being respected. Difficult decisions always make someone unhappy. That’s why they’re difficult.

Watching the recent spectacle of the so-called non-aligned nations meeting in Cuba applaud speakers who openly expressed hatred of the United States and everything we stand for while their own citizens suffer political repression, poverty and cruelty is intolerable.

It’s time we stop catering to those whose goal is to hurt America and our people.
It’s time to simply get out of this dysfunctional excuse for a world body.
It’s time to send the UN to “the ash heap of history.”