[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 18882-18883]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           THE UNITED NATIONS

  Mr. ENSIGN. Mr. President, I rise to discuss the failure of the 
United Nations. The U.N. is failing to promote liberty, democracy, and 
human rights for all citizens.
  The world has changed a great deal since the United Nations was 
formed some 59 years ago. The dangers of Nazism and communism have been 
replaced by an ever-evolving, ever-increasing threat of terrorism.
  The United Nations is not up to the challenges of this new century. 
The U.N. now has sponsors of terrorism and repression overseeing the 
protection of human rights around the world. The countries of Sudan, 
China, and Cuba currently serve as members of the United Nations 
Commission on Human Rights.
  Yesterday, the United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, lectured 
the world body that the rule of law in Iraq is being disrupted as much 
by the United States as by the terrorists who ravage the country 
through bombings and beheadings.
  Any person or group who cannot decipher the moral difference in this 
struggle against terror and repression cannot and should not be trusted 
to lead.

[[Page 18883]]

In a BBC interview last week, the Secretary General stated that the 
liberation of Iraq by the United States and its coalition partners was 
illegal and a violation of the U.N. Charter. This declaration comes on 
the heels of his earlier statement that ``there should have been a 
second resolution'' authorizing the invasion.
  Today, Mr. Annan seems to be saying that the only way force can be 
used legitimately in the modern world is to first obtain the unanimous 
permission of the U.N. Security Council.
  I am pleased President Bush does not adhere to this line of thinking. 
And I am proud every time I hear him say that he will never wait for 
permission to defend the United States.
  The Secretary General's latest posturing is far from harmless. The 
U.N. has been given the lead role in organizing the elections in Iraq 
in January. But Mr. Annan's comments that we have acted illegally in 
Iraq, comments which have been replayed across the Arab world, have 
given an added feeling of legitimacy to every jihadist hoping to 
disrupt the vote.
  I believe the U.N. has lost its way. It has ceased to be able to 
judge the difference between right and wrong. The Secretary General's 
speech to the General Assembly yesterday illustrated his belief that 
there is a moral equivalence between the terrorists and those who are 
fighting them. That is disturbing, and that is wrong.
  However, the Secretary General is not alone in expressing it. It is 
extremely disturbing that a former United Nations official, Anna Di 
Lellio, has been named as the Director of Communications for the 
Volcker panel, a supposedly independent panel investigating the Oil For 
Food scandal. Why is this so disturbing? Because Ms. Di Lellio has 
compared President Bush and key U.S. ally, Prime Minister Silvio 
Berlusconi, to Osama bin Laden. This shows, again, how the United 
Nations is failing in the essential tasks for which it is responsible.
  There is a difference between right and wrong. And words do have 
consequences.
  I also want to read a quote the Democratic nominee made yesterday. It 
is in the Washington Post today. It says:

       Kerry did not directly answer a question about whether he 
     agrees with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, who called the 
     Iraq war illegal. ``I don't know what the law or legalities 
     are,'' Kerry said.

  The U.N. Secretary General says the Iraq war is illegal because the 
United States didn't have United Nations' Security Council approval.
  And John Kerry can't give a clear answer that the United Nations 
Secretary General is wrong? This is a person running for the President 
of the United States.
  Increasingly, the United Nations does not advocate the interests of 
those pursuing peace, freedom, and democracy in the world. If the 
United Nations spent more time working for liberty and less time 
coddling dictators, the world would be a better place.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia is recognized.

                          ____________________