Here come the UN army & police: the Bush administration has helped build a fledgling UN military and police force, increasing the likelihood that the U.S. will eventually subordinate itself to UN authority.(UNITED NATIONS)

The liberal media have long portrayed the Bush administration as hostile to the United Nations. Yet, Bush's State Department signed a document on September 15 that would result in an unprecedented militarization of the United Nations.

The 2005 World Summit Outcomes document would (among other things) strengthen the military "stand-by arrangements" already in existence with 80 nations (for the United Nations to call up troops from national armies) and would initiate a new standing UN police force. World Summit Outcomes stipulates: "We endorse the creation of an initial operating capability for a standing police capacity to provide coherent, effective and responsible start-up capability for the policing component of the United Nations peacekeeping missions and to assist existing missions through the provision of advice and expertise."

The proposed UN "police capacity" would be charged (at first) with keeping order in zones where UN forces have already been deployed. It's no great stretch, however, to see this gradually mutating into a de facto global police force enforcing UN mandates and arresting individuals for prosecution and trial by UN institutions. Along these lines, it should be especially noteworthy to American gun owners that World Summit Outcomes champions a favorite UN theme: the elimination of civilian ownership of small arms and light weapons. As we have reported extensively in past issues, the 2001 UN "Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects" left no doubt as to the organization's animus toward private ownership of firearms, making no distinction between criminals, terrorists, and law-abiding citizens.

The enhanced new UN "peacekeeping" army call-up arrangements would be roughly analogous to the U.S. National Guard system, whereby states maintain soldiers who can be called up by the federal government. In order to implement the world police and "world guard"-style global army, the document requires the United Nations to establish a Peacebuilding Commission that would be partnered with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

This raises the possibility that a standing UN army may soon be possible without the approval of national governments, even though our governments are providing the funding through the IMF and World Bank. The international banking system could loan the UNDPKO (United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations) funds to hire and equip their own army. The United Nations September summit specifically lauded the efforts of the European Union and the African Union to make such a rapid reaction force ready for the UN's deployment at a moment's notice.

The proposals to enhance the military capabilities of the UN--and to give it a standing police force for the first ...