No U.N. in Iraq.(Goodbye to the U.N.)

After doing everything in their power to block the removal of Saddam Hussein, United Nations head Kofi Annan and countries in the obstructionist Security Council are now plotting to give a "central role" to the U.N. in post-war Iraq. Critics of President Bush are demanding that he hand over much of the responsibility for reconstruction to the global body. Before America takes this advice it would be a good idea to examine the U.N.'s record on this front.

The fact is, the United Nations has a troubled history in peacekeeping, terror prevention, and nation-building. Since the founding of the world body, there have been 291 wars resulting in 22 million deaths. During this period the U.N. authorized military intervention to deter aggression only twice: in response to North Korea's invasion of South Korea in 1950, and Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990-both under strong U.S. leadership. Sadly, in both instances the belligerent madmen who started the wars remained in power, due to U.N. restrictions, at great cost to the civilized world.

Despite a dozen international treaties and scores of Security Council and General Assembly resolutions, the U.N. has done absolutely nothing to reduce global terror. In fact, the organization refuses even to define "terrorism," perhaps because numerous members practice the deadly trade themselves. The U.S. Department of State lists 36 terrorist organizations operating with impunity in at least 60 U.N. member countries. Recently, two thirds of 191 U.N. members failed to meet an important Security Council filing deadline on actions taken to combat terror.

The U.N. human rights record is equally appalling. Freedom House--a U.N. credentialed organization founded by Eleanor Roosevelt-estimates that approximately two billion people (one third of the world's population) are victims of human rights abuses. How has the U.N. responded? By selecting Qaddafi's Libya (a terrorist state and one of the world's worst rights abusers) to head the U.N.'s Human Rights Commission, which can only be thought of as a sick joke.

Much of this nonsense occurs because ...