Posted by
Reeson on Monday, August 06, 2007 2:53:42 PM
By Greg C. Reeson
The Associated Press reported over the weekend that the United Nations Security Council had expressed its “grave concern” over reports alleging that weapons were being smuggled into Lebanon. Of course, the AP article captures in a nutshell the very essence of what is wrong with the U.N. It seems that the best the Security Council can do when faced with a real security issue is to express its “grave concern.”
Now, it’s no secret that weapons have been smuggled into Lebanon for decades. Nor is it a secret that Iran and Syria have been, and continue to be, the primary culprits. And despite the fact that these latest reports merely reinforce once again what has long been known to be a significant contributing factor to Lebanon’s troubles, the Security Council couldn’t manage to come together to issue a demand to Syria and Iran to stop their repeated violations of U.N. resolutions designed to prevent the smuggling of arms into Lebanon.
In keeping with the long-held U.N. tradition of avoiding confrontation on serious issues, the Security Council merely reminded both regional and international nations that they had an obligation to honor the U.N. arms embargo and issued a statement saying that recent claims by Hezbollah about the terrorist group’s ability to attack Israel were cause for “deep concern.”
According to the AP article, it was necessary for the Security Council to “water down” its response to the reports in order to win support from Qatar. Once again we are reminded that consensus takes priority over substance at Turtle Bay. And, while I’ve asked this question before, I feel compelled to ask it again: why are we still participating in this charade? Why do we still feel the need to work through the United Nations when it comes to important security issues?
The U.N. is a bloated, inefficient, disorganized bureaucracy that consistently fails to seriously address the important security issues facing the world today. At the U.N., getting along is more important than getting a point across. That is why Iran continues to defy the international community with its pursuit of nuclear technology, North Korea continues to play diplomatic games in exchange for regime-supporting concessions from the West, and Lebanon continues to be used as a proxy battleground by its Syrian and Iranian masters.
The United Nations can do some good in the world, particularly with regard to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. But time and again the U.N. fails when it comes to the really important security issues of the day. Each time a statement of “grave concern” or “deep concern” prevails over meaningful action, the U.N. moves farther along the road to realizing President Bush’s warning of impending irrelevance.