US Needs To Go Back To The UN... And Apologise

Every time I get into an online chat with Republicans, they always mock my suggestion that the USA should hand over Iraq to the UN.

"Yeah, right! We might as well give Iraq to France, or Russia!" is a standard response.

The UN has taken a battering in US media because, with the Cold War over and European countries split by core US supporters like Italy and Britain, the UN is the only group that can seriously challenge US emperialism. The Bush team has worked to disparage pubic opinion of the UN, blaming it for failed Iraq weapons inspections (which turned out to be spot on) and for refusing to authorize and invasion of Iraq (which turned out to be a fair stance, given the misleading evidence of WMDs that was being used as justification).

Meanwhile the US vetoes every resolution condemning Israel and uses bully tactics to make other countries - particularly the economically-dependent nations of Latin America - vote their way.

Consider the latest debacle. When the USA criticized Cuba's human rights record, Fidel responded with angry denunciations of the USA's treatment of Guantanamo Bay detainees. Well, how can you criticize ANYBODY when you have locked people up in wire boxes for two years without charge or access to lawyers? Cuba tabled a motion criticizing the USA. But now, after what the Cubans call US "threats and blackmail", (and no doubt realizing they will never get enough other nations to support it), Cuba has reluctantly withdrawn their motion.

"Tangible is the fear of Western countries and some in Latin America to stand up with dignity to the fascist practices of the US administration lest they receive reprimands and retaliations," said the Cuban Ambassador to the UN.

I don't like dictatorial regimes or fundamentalist terrorists but dammit, when they are right, they're right. So how did we get into a position where people like Fidel and Osama are legitmately criticizing the USA???

If the UN is not all it could be today, sadly, it is largely the fault of successive US governments. Instead of using the UN as a propaganda tool, the US should abandon global emperialism, withdraw from the world stage and fiercely promote the UN and the International Criminal Court as the best possible paths to lasting world peace.