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 he U.N.
has often shown itself to be a forum not for justice but for hate.
The most recent example was the Durban conference on racism, a microcosm
of the United Nations. It all sounded nice and good, but in reality
was simply a forum for anti-Semitism and attempts to delegitimize
Israel.
Few events in recent memory have been as bizarre and perverted
as the elevation of Syria to the U.N. Security Council earlier this
month. The election of this terrorist state to the inner sanctum,
at a time when the United Sates is reeling from an incomprehensible
terrorist attack, is a monumental slap in the face. Only, the U.S.
did not oppose the nomination; rather, it registered a morally weak
abstention. While President Bush's epic battle against terrorists
— wherever they are, and against whoever harbors them —
is the height of nobility, he made a major strategic and moral mistake
in not opposing this rogue nation's election. And it was certainly
an error to do it for the sake of an absurdly broad coalition, which
may include nations that for years have been proclaiming their intention
to destroy the United States.
The Security Council is the body within the U.N. charged with preserving
international peace and security. The U.N. charter says it is the
Security Council that determines the existence of any "threat
to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression," and
that it's up to the council to "maintain or restore international
peace and security." Syria, with Assad as president and now
Assad "Junior" as its leader, has done nothing but breach
that peace and act aggressively against its neighbors. It flagrantly
contravenes U.N. sanctions against Baghdad, still occupies Lebanon,
and continues to threaten Israel.
The United Nations met the barbarous murder of U.S. citizens with
a resolution that nations must "deny safe haven to those who
finance, plan, support, or commit terrorist acts." Even as
this resolution was being voted on, Syria was simultaneously hosting
a bizarre terrorist convention, which heralded the reactivation
of terrorism against Israel. When I asked Jan Fischer, a U.N. spokesman,
how such a resolution could be in accord with the election of Syria
— a state sponsor of terrorism — to the Security Council,
he responded by saying, "That is your definition." No,
Jan, actually it's the State Department's definition: They include
Syria as one of seven states that sponsor terrorism.
Syria's patronage of terror is well known and well documented.
It harbors and supports numerous U.S.-designated terrorist organizations,
including the al Qaeda-connected Hizbollah. Hizbollah is responsible
for the murder of hundreds of Americans, in the bombings of the
U.S. Embassy and the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut — and quite
probably the Kohbar towers bombing, which killed 19 American soldiers.
Syria also plays gracious host to Hamas, the terrorist organization
that has killed hundreds of Israeli civilians in indiscriminate
suicide bombings. Not to mention their active support for the Popular
Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Al-Jihad, and Palestinian
Islamic Jihad, groups that have a global reach and have killed American
citizens. All of these are poster boys for the administration's
war on terror.
Not that Syria's sterling record stops with terrorism. They also
have one of the worst human-rights records in the world. International
human-rights groups regularly cite Syria for habitual violations.
Syrian security forces dominate life in the country, and continue
to arrest and kill citizens for their political and/or religious
beliefs. The government doesn't stop at simply killing individuals,
either. They have carried out mass killings of their own citizens
whom they suspected of harboring ill will towards the Ba'ath regime,
most notably in the city of Hama. In 1982, in order to quell political
dissent, government forces were sent into the town and proceeded
to massacre between 30,000 and 40,000 Syrian men, women and children.
And, as if all that wasn't enough, Syria is also the center of the
Middle East drug trade.
The United Nations lost its moral compass years ago, so I wasn't
too shocked at this obvious travesty of justice. What disturbed
me was the United States's acquiescence. In our just struggle against
world terrorism, we cannot compromise by allowing such an obvious
degenerate — a country that stands against everything we, as
an enlightened democracy, stand for — to stand guard over our
society of nations. The votes for Syria were assured regardless
of what the United States did, but we still should have put up a
fight over their entry, or at the very least voted against it. In
doing so we would have sent a message that the United States will
fight against terrorism, wherever it stands — and certainly
against a nation that supports violence against both our own citizens
and those of our allies.
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