Another Nobel Move
The U.N. elects a terrorist nation to its Security Council.

By Ami Horowitz, a freelance writer in New York.
October 24, 2001 9:30 a.m.

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.