Kick the U.N. out of New York
By David Holcberg (Washington Times, December 31, 2004)

Re: "The Case for U.N. Reform," (Dec. 28, 2004)

Mr. Kogan's claim that the U.N.'s "universal membership makes [it] a unique legitimating mechanism" to support our war on Islamic fundamentalism is totally wrong. It is precisely because the United Nations accepts any nation as a member--including the dictatorships and theocracies that are our enemies in this war--that it has no legitimacy at all.

It is America's membership in the U.N. that legitimizes the tyrannies among its members and that sanctions their actions, not the other way around. But to legitimize and sanction evil is as impractical as it is immoral. The United States cannot defend the freedom of its citizens and prosecute a war in their defense by associating itself with human rights violators and
hostile terrorist regimes.

The reason the United States accepts the legitimacy of dictatorial nations is that American leaders are unable or unwilling to challenge the false ideologies of self-determination and multiculturalism. Self-determination holds that people in every nation have the right to determine their own form of government, regardless of how brutal or unjust that form might be. Multiculturalism holds that all nations and cultures are equally moral and should be treated with respect regardless of their particular nature. But in reality, not all forms of government are equally just, and not all nations are morally equal.

The United States should continue to pursue a foreign policy that supports human rights and combats Islamic totalitarianism, but it should do so on its own, or in alliance with other nations that actually share its values. If America really cares about human rights and the security of its people, it should not, as Mr. Kogan proposes, reform the United Nations. It should withdraw from it--and kick it out of New York. Then the world might get the message that respect for human rights and the safety of America are more important than membership in a morally bankrupt organization.