Annan Mistakenly Thinks United Nations is Relevant

Annan made his comments Wednesday when a reporter for the BBC questioned him about the war's legality, saying, "From our point of view and the U.N. charter point of view, it was illegal." The U.N. chief previously voiced his opposition to the invasion on the grounds that it lacked Security Council approval, which he says is required by the U.N. charter, and has challenged White House claims that the war has made the world safer from international terrorists. [C. Lynch, U.S., Allies Dispute Annan on Iraq War, Washington Post, 9/17/2004]

While some would say that perhaps it is time for Annan to retire, it is actually long past time to retire the United Nations.

This is the same pattern Ayn Rand identified decades ago, when she compared the United Nations to "a crime-fighting committee whose board of directors include[s] the leading gangsters of the community." Yet the only thing that can give such a commission any pretense at legitimacy is the participation of the city's upstanding citizens. Similarly, the only thing that gives the United Nations any legitimacy is America's cooperation: our might, our money, and our moral sanction.

America should not defy the United Nations on Iraq--we should do much more: we should withdraw from the United Nations altogether, letting that organization complete its collapse into a Third World debating society. [R. Tracinski, Don’t Defy the United Nations –End It, Ayn Rand Institute, 3/18/2003]

For more on the United Nations, read UN is Evil.

Fig Leaf Diplomacy (9/24/3003)