UNESCO & the "war on terrorism". (Insider Report).(Brief Article)

The U.S. withdrew from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1984. Earlier this year, Congress authorized $67 million to pay for U.S. re-enrollment in the UN organization. At the time of this writing, a House-Senate conference committee is working out final details for the U.S. to rejoin the body.

According to James H. Ottaway and Ronald Koven of the World Press Freedom Committee, U.S. re-entry into UNESCO is vital in the interests of -- what else? -- fighting the "war on terrorism."

"Sept. 11 and its aftermath underline the need to join a UN agency that is the world's leading forum for policymaking on ideas of culture and communication," wrote Ottaway and Koven in a July 17th Washington Post op-ed column. "Military security is not enough to guard against seriously poisoned minds that commit terrorist acts. UNESCO can become a major force for restoring rationality to this ideological struggle."

Those acquainted with UNESCO's origins would look on it as a singularly unsuitable ally in an "ideological struggle." Former Communist Joseph Z. Kornfeder pointed out in the early 1950s that "UNESCO corresponds to the agitation and propaganda department in the Communist party. This department handles the strategy and method of getting at the public mind, young and old." Founding UNESCO Director-General Julian Huxley appointed numerous Communists and unrepentant ex-Communists to key positions.

A 1956 report compiled by a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee documented that UNESCO was "by far, ...