Dear Robert and Barbara,
I have been receiving your newsletter for several months and love your ideas about peace and the UN. I've always loved the idea of united nations and am a supporter of the UN.
I was very disturbed about something I read in a newsletter from my congressman, Sam Johnson. I live in Plano, TX. In the newsletter, I noticed a list of Mr. Johnson's beliefs. One of these was the idea that the United States should end our membership in the UN. I couldn't believe that he thought this was a good idea and wrote to ask him his thoughts about this.
Here's what he said:
"The UN created the Oil-for Food Program in 1996 to allow Iraq to purchase food, medicine and other essential items for its people. It was designed to prevent the regime of Saddam Hussein from acquiring funds to purchase weapons of mass destruction. However, under inept UN oversight, Hussein routinely abused the program for his own benefit, with only an estimated 25% of the program's funds used to purchase food for the Iraqui people. In addition to its ridiculous appointments of terrorists nations to key international committees, the UN has proven insolvent in administering a program that was supposed to provide humanitarian relief to the people of Iraq. It is tragic that this program may have been abused by the very people at the UN who created and managed it. While diplomats and Saddam Hussein allegedly conspired to rob the Iraqi people of a reported $6-7 billion, the people of Iraq were left hungry, penniless and merciless against the brutality of the regime.
The UN increasingly tries to influence our environmental, trade, labor, tax and gun laws. Its global planners simply aren't interested in our Constitution and form of government. The choice is very clear: we either follow the Constitution or submit to UN global governance. Our national sovereignty cannot survive if we allow our domestic laws to be crafted by an international body. I am a co-sponser of H.R. 1146, which seeks to end all U.S. participation in the United Nations. In addition, it would expel the organization from its taxpayer-subsidized headquarters located in New York City. I believe the Oil-for Food scandal is just one example of an inept organization abusing its power and it's time to end our membership with the UN."
I was astonished at this reply from Mr. Johnson. I feel that at some point our world must be willing to be a global community--governed in a different way.
How can I better educate myself about the UN and the good it does? How can I effectively reply to Mr. Johnson?
Very sincerely,
Mary
