United Nations successes are few and limited. The Korean conflict was resolved with a ceasefire, but only because of the USSR’s absence from the Security Council. The repelling of Iraqi forces from Kuwait in 1991 did not topple Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who immediately began to defy the UN as soon as the U.S.-led occupying army was demobilized. That same decade, the UN failed to prevent an escalating Balkan conflict, and could not protect its victims. A NATO coalition was required to end the mutual destruction.
In the early 1990s, the gradual escalation of factional fighting in Somalia was met with only half-measures by the UN. Military observers were sent in after an arms embargo proved ineffective. An undermanned force of 3,500 peacekeepers was authorized in August 1992—but only 500 had been deployed by the end of September. Finally, the United States took the lead under Resolution 794, launching a taskforce called “Operation Restored Hope” to secure humanitarian relief efforts.
Attacks on UN forces intensified in 1993, culminating in the shameful killing and mutilation of American, Malaysian and Pakistani peacekeepers operating under the UN banner in Mogadishu. International forces departed in March 1995 as the UN mandate expired, leaving no recognized authority in place. Ultimately, UN humanitarian efforts in Somalia were viewed as a dismal failure.
President Bush has sought to work through the United Nations for a solution in Iraq. The former Iraqi regime had been in defiance of UN resolutions for years, dating back through the Clinton administration. The bickering among leading nations, combined with outright stonewalling, again paralyzed the organization. In the face of international criticism, the United States acted unilaterally with her allies, invaded Iraq and removed Saddam Hussein.
In late summer of 2006, the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon entered a hastily brokered and shaky peace. UN Resolution 1701 called for the disarming of Hezbollah forces in Lebanon as part of the ceasefire agreement. This, in spite of a Hezbollah cabinet minister making clear, prior to the ceasefire, that the terrorist organization had no intention of disarming.
With the ink barely dry on the document, the nations responsible for providing troop contingents to Lebanon for enforcing the resolution balked at their responsibility. The result? Hezbollah remains armed, its influence growing as it awaits the next war against Israel.
Then there is the “Oil for Food” program of the 1990s, which was intended to ease the suffering of the Iraqi population. Serious allegations of profiteering surfaced—not only were Iraqi officials implicated, but the tentacles of corruption appeared to reach to the highest levels of the UN General Assembly.
In the Congo, allegations of sexual abuse by UN staff stretch back for more than a decade. During the operation there, Secretary of State Colin Powell urged that more human rights monitors be put on the ground. In effect, he was asking for UN people to police other out-of-control UN personnel! In June 2004, angry demonstrators stormed the United Nations compounds across the Congo protesting UN peacekeeping forces’ failure to prevent the eastern town of Bukavu from falling to rebels.
On the heels of the Congo are allegations of even more outrageous acts of violence and sex perpetrated by UN personnel in Liberia. Such conduct seems to provide more substance to other charges of corruption, along with calls from many in the U.S. to let the United Nations go the way of the League of Nations. They not only see the UN as corrupt and incompetent, but also as an organization that compromises national security.
One common theme runs through the above accounts. While the UN seems to be rife with incompetence and corruption, the root cause of failure throughout its history is the posturing, competing and self-interested nations all seeking to manipulate facts and events to their own advantage.
Self-interest rules all parties in the UN.
realtruth.org
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