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On the first anniversary of the September 11th attacks,
President Bush warned the United Nations that it faced "a difficult test." He asked "Are Security
Council resolutions to be honored and enforced ... or cast aside without consequence? Will the
United Nations serve the purpose of its founding ... or will it be irrelevant?"
At the time, Kofi Annan urged caution. And caution
became the rule.
Gerhard Schroeder and Dominique Villepin should have
stood up and said "YES! The UN will be irrelevant!"
So far, Iraq is in continued defiant non-compliance with the
heart of the final UN Resolution, which demands that Saddam be forthcoming in disarming and
presenting all weapons of mass destruction. However, the inspections regime, which poses
little threat, is also in place, which allows him the ability to put a good face on his
non-compliance.
Happily scoring political points and standing up to the "bully of the world"
is Gerhard Schroeder, who last year raised a flap with the White House when his aide compared President Bush
to Hitler. Even though one of Gerhard's predecessors was Hitler, and Bush's were Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln,
Gerhard only offered a half apology. Saddam Hussein strikes an alarming
likeness to Hitler, but Gerhard would prefer to sell arms to the Iraqi genocidal dictator for cheap oil. He must hope no one
else in the world is listening. He must be hoping to please his own constituents while the world ignores the reek coming from European heads of state.
Bush has chided the weak-kneed Europeans that they have learned little from history.
Maybe they forgot how appeasement of Germany led to World War II.
The French, who suffered under Hitler's invasion, also seem to have lapsed into a
profound decadence and forgetfulness.
The UN was set up to prevent the coming of another Hitler. Can we ask Kofi Annan what he
feels about the Saddam Hussein-Hitler comparison? Does he realize the gravity of his failure to lead the UN in a strong opposition to Iraqi human rights abuses?
Of course he knows. The only problem is, the UN is peopled with the kind of people whose job it is to cast a veil over their inhumane practices. We can expect little genuine results to defend human rights coming from Kofi Annan.
He should be putting pressure on Iraq's trade
partners France and Germany. Here is why.
While the US attempts to deal with Iraq in terms of food for oil, France and Germany deal
with Iraq in arms, because their failing socialist republics could use the economic boost of cheap oil. America is not
listening, but it is tired of hearing them. The UN will stink, I mean speak; afterwards it is time to get the liberation over and done with.
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