Does the organization need to exist?
Freeing up real estate on the East Side
It emerged this week that employees of the United Nations were likely involved in the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that killed 1,139 people. An unknown number of UN employees seem to have taken part in the raid.
UNRWA, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, is designed to help refugees with employment, education, direct financial relief, and health care. They spend a large amount of money for this purpose; their budget generally hovers around $1 billion per year. Complaints of financial abuse and mismanagement have persisted for years. Outright theft also appears to be common in the organization.
But now it seems like there is proof of more than just mismanagement and embezzlement.
Israel has been alleging that the UNRWA was using funds for weapons and enlarging the tunnel system in Gaza. A recent lawsuit in claims that there is proof. And now the UN appears to be admitting that employees of the UNRWA actually took part in the October 7th attack. At least nine have been fired and the investigation is still ongoing.
The UN is trying to clean up the mess, but no one has much faith that they will root out the problems in UNRWA. It is too far gone.
Which brings us to a bigger point. Is the United Nations of any value? They appear to be nothing more than a massive embezzlement scheme, providing questionable humanitarian assistance at massive upcharges.
Gone are the days when the UN could be counted on to bring a peacekeeping force to bear. There are no more Korean conflicts or Balkan incursions where the UN could be counted on as a military presence. Somalia and Rwanda were failures. The UN actually caused more problems than it corrected in Haiti.
Their current peacekeeping missions are in Africa in places like Sudan and Congo. These missions have not shown any measurable success. The United Nations simply does not appear to be an impactful organization any longer.
The United States has played a role in this marginalization of the UN, but the problem is institutional. The UN simply cannot agree to a plan that would impact any significant conflict in the world. The organization has become mostly an aid organization, and judging from the current events in Gaza, the world can do better.
It’s time for someone to pull the plug. Perhaps we can convert their massive headquarters on the East Side of Manhattan into another migrant shelter. It might improve the neighborhood. It will certainly cost us less.
The USS Cole – In Harm’s Way?
This week it was announced that the USS Cole was being deployed to the Red Sea in response to the Iranian threat to retaliate for the Israeli assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
As we remember, the USS Cole was one of the early blows in the al-Qaeda war on the United States. In 2000, the ship was attacked by a suicide bomber while moored in Aden. Seventeen Americans were killed in the attack, which blew a large hole in the side of the Arleigh Burke class destroyer.
It seemed like an unusual move to place the USS Cole back in harm’s way in that area of the world. As we have seen from the two World Trade Center attacks in 1993 and 2001, the jihadis have a history of trying to finish what they started. No doubt the sailors on board are the #1 target for all sorts of radicals that operate in the region.
That is not to say that the United States should back down, but this seems like an unnecessary risk. As Anthony Blinken continues to espouse the yet unseen benefits of lowering the temperature, this appears to be a potential flash point.
Sure enough, just one day after it was announced that the USS Cole would be entering the region, Houthis claimed to have attacked and struck the USS Cole and the USS Laboon. No doubt terrorists and Iranian proxies would like nothing more than to destroy the ship and give the United States a black eye on the world stage.
We are sure the brave men and women of the United States Navy are proud to go in harm’s way and show up the enemies of the US by sailing the Cole anywhere. We just question the backbone of the Biden Administration to respond appropriately if a serious attack occurs.
Perhaps one of the contributing factors to the willingness to attack the USS Cole is the fact that one of the original attackers had not been held to account yet. Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri was captured in 2002. He is accused of helping to orchestrate the attack on the Cole in 2000.
He still has not been brought to justice. Last week a US Army judge finally set a court date for his trial at Guantanamo Bay. His case will start in October of 2025. That is 23 years after his capture.
We saw the same with 9-11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh-Muhammed and other terrorists. Years of indecision and intelligence concerns have left victim’s families in limbo. The United States needs a better system of dealing with these captured terrorists – perhaps an entire separate body of law and procedure. The current system is ineffective and embarrassing.
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