United
Nations -
The UN has recently suffered an onslaught of
taunts. They've been told to get serious and get with it.
Related:
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Australia |
"Australia once had a reputation
as a strong supporter of the UN and the rule of international
law. Since the election of the Howard Government we have become
instead a leading player in the attempt to weaken several
UN conventions and have become the only Western government,
other than the US, that has refused to sign the Kyoto protocol.
Our policy over Iraq is best understood as part of this more
general retreat from internationalism." Robert
Manne, The Age  March
17, 2003
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wiretapping |
"Only one major daily newspaper
(in Baltimore) has published anything about US eavesdropping,
telephone tapping and message interception of the six small
countries that are members of the [UN]Security Council and whose
votes are undecided." Edward
Said March 8, 2003 |
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UN resolutions |
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legality
of invasion |
"The U.N. charter authorizes the
Security Council to permit force "to maintain or restore
international peace and security." It also allows nations
to use force individually in cases of self-defense against an
armed attack — or against an imminent attack... Critics
of the war and some legal scholars argue Iraq did not pose such
a threat to the United States." AP,
March 22, 2003 |
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war
as humanitarian response |
" A recently leaked
UN report headed “Likely humanitarian scenarios”,
and dated 10 December 2002, supports predictions of a humanitarian
catastrophe in the event of further war. It estimates that 16
of the country’s 26.5 million people are totally dependent
on the government monthly food ration, the distribution of which
will be severely jeopardised with the likely targeting of roads,
bridges and railways. Further predictions in the report are
that 39% of the population will need to be provided with clean
water, 5 million would require assistance with sanitation; 2
million children will require treatment for severe or moderate
malnutrition; and 900,000 refugees will require assistance."
Dr
Sue Wareham, February 2003, in The Paper
[Link
to UN report] |
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UNSCOM |
"The United States for nearly three
years intermittently monitored the coded radio communications
of President Saddam Hussein's innermost security forces using
equipment secretly installed in Iraq by U.N. weapons inspectors,
according to U.S. and U.N. officials." Thomas
W. Lippman and Barton Gellman, Washington Post, January 8, 1999 |
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External links:
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UN