Reason # 274

As if we needed any more reason to get out of the UN we now have evidence that the Oil for Food program that was supposed to be keeping Iraqi children from starving was actually lining the pockets of UN inspectors and of course, the Hussein family. Who couldn't see that coming? Take three parts lunatic dictator, four parts greedy beauracrat, one part international embargo, one hundred million barrels unrefined natural resource, mix and cover with UN incompetence for three to five years. Voila! Huge scandal.

Prior reasons to dump the UN... How about Saddam Hussein smuggling $9.7 billion worth of oil out of Iraq under the UN's watchful eyes? How about having troops on the ground in Rwanda before the genocide started, milling about smartly in their powder blue helmets while 800,000 Tutsis are hacked to death with machetes? How about declaring the former Yugoslavia a safe haven while Ratko Mladic enacted the slaughter of Bosnian Muslims? Yes, UN peace keeping forces were there, too. (By the way, both of these genocides occurred on Kofi Annan's watch as undersecretary general in charge of peacekeeping forces. Rwanda happened with his prior knowledge of the Hutu plan.)

All to say, who needs the UN? Not the United States. Not Russia. Not Great Britian. Not France or Germany or Italy. Not Rwanda. Not Bosnia. Not Iraq. Not Iran. The only purpose that the UN is currently serving is giving jobs to people like Annan. The UN is a redundant beauracracy that sucks funding from all the member nations and yet, has no real power. The mandates that they produce are no more than "I wish" statements. The meetings that they hold following disasters, such as the recent tsunami, produce nothing more than a written document that is not binding on anyone, doesn't commit to anything, doesn't change the situation in the least but gives the UN the warm fuzzies that they're (heavy sarcasm) working hard to end the suffering. What a bad, bad joke on us.

Bush proposed cutting 150 government funded programs in his budget. We all know that less than 10 of those will actually be eliminated by Congress, if that many. How about getting rid of whatever we're spending on the UN. The building we gave them in NY has to be worth millions, maybe billions. The funding they receive, the US troops they command, the real estate, the privileges while on our soil... all should be reclaimed. Send Kofi Annan and the rest of that impotent organization back to whatever it was they did before they climbed on the gravy train.