-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- Dave Hartley http://www.Asheville-Computer.com/dave -----Original Message----- From: MichaelP [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, January 21, 2000 7:15 AM To: unlikely suspects: ; Subject: U$ Senator Helms tells UN ( and everybody else) how to behave AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE Friday, January 21 1:44 AM SGT Do not encroach on sovereignty, Helms tells UN UNITED NATIONS, Jan 20 (AFP) - The most prominent US critic of the United Nations, Senator Jesse Helms, came here Thursday and said he wanted "a new beginning" in the US-UN relationship but warned the world body not to encroach on American sovereignty. Helms, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also said that if the United Nations on full payment of US contributions it would be "the beginning of the end" of American support for the UN. He told the Security Council that it had "a mixed record" in countering aggression. The speech was heard in silence. There was no applause at the end. Some of his fiercest comments were directed at the International Criminal Court (ICC), established by treaty in Rome in 1998 but yet to take form. Helms led efforts to exempt US soldiers from the provisions of the court. The first US legislator to address the council, Helms said he wanted "to extend the hand of friendship." It was important, he said, "that this body have greater contact with the elected representatives of the American people, and that we have greater contact with you." His speech was described as "historic" by US Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, who holds the rotating monthly presidency of the council. The permanent representatives of all 15 council members were present in the council chamber. Ambassadors representing many other UN countries were in the public gallery to hear Helms express "our desire for a new beginning in the US-UN relationship." Earlier, Helms met the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan. Helms was due to chair a meeting of his committee in New York on Friday to discuss UN reform and the future of US-UN relations. He told the council he had received "literally thousands of letters from Americans all across the country expressing their deep frustration with this institution." They had seen the majority in the UN General Assembly vote against the United States, he said. They had heard "the raucous cheering" of delegates to the ICC treaty conference, he said. "They see the UN aspiring to establish itself as the central authority of a new international order of global laws and global governance," he said "This is an international order the American people will not accept," he added. "International law did not defeat Hitler, nor did it win the Cold War," he said. He told the council that although it had reacted "admirably" to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, it had since failed to stop Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from acquiring weapons of mass destruction. It had been "paralysed" over Kosovo and had failed to protect the people of Bosnia from genocide, he said. "No UN institution -- not the Security Council, nor the Yugoslav tribunal, nor a future ICC -- is competent to judge the foreign policy and national security decisions of the United States," Helms went on. "No treaty or law can ever supersede the one document that all Americans hold sacred: the US constitution," he said. Helms is the co-author of a bill that set conditions on the part payment of the United States dues to the United Nations. The bill became law in November. The bill, co-authored by Senator Joseph Biden, capped US arrears at 926 million dollars. The UN estimates the arrears at more than 1.5 billion. The bill, passed by 98 votes to one in the US Senate last year, stipulated that the United Nations accept the lower figure as one of five preconditions for payment. It also insisted on a new scale reducing US contributions to the UN's general and peacekeeping budgets, and that the UN adopt a zero-growth budget. The United States was "the single largest investor in the United Nations," Helms said, and "the American people rightly expect a return" from their investment. ================================= *** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. *** <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soap-boxing! 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