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From
http://www.security-policy.org/papers/1999/99-D122.html
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Publications of the Center for Security Policy
No. 99-D 122
DECISION BRIEF
21 October 1999
Credit Where It is Due on U.S. Financial Support for the U.N.
(Washington, D.C.): According to press reports, the recently confirmed American
Representative to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke has been spending much
of his time lately as the chief official lobbyist in the Clinton
Administration's campaign to euchre Congress into paying so-called "arrearages"
in U.S. dues. A leitmotif of this campaign is the allegation that the United
States is -- in the words of President Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright, among others who should know better -- a "deadbeat." The truth of the
matter is that such an appallingly defamatory and anti-American claim can only
be made if one ignores the full extent of this country's immense financial
contributions to the United Nations.
Just the Facts, Ma'am
Indeed, the Clinton Administration's own Defense Department has documented that
the United States has contributed over $15 billion to peacekeeping operations
from 1996 through the first quarter of fiscal year 1999. (This does not count
the remainder of FY99, which would include massive additional contributions the
U.S. made in connection with the war in Kosovo.) The UN bureaucracy calls these
contributions "voluntary," however. As a result, they are not credited against
America's "dues." Neither does the United States get much credit for making
these contributions in any other way, either.
This is due, in part, to the Clinton Administration's unwillingness to
acknowledge these outlays, presumably lest they -- by so doing -- encourage
efforts to prevent such generous diversions of resources and in-kind
contributions (in the form of heavy utilization of Defense Department assets)
from the Pentagon to UN and related missions. Thanks to Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-
MD), a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, however, the DoD is
now required by law to report on these expenditures on a quarterly basis.
Enter Rep. Smith
In an important op.ed. article in today's Washington Times, Rep. Christopher
Smith (R-NJ), drew on this data to counter the propaganda being put out by Amb.
Holbrooke, other Administration flaks and by a public relations campaign funded
by Ted Turner and orchestrated, sadly, by former Republican National Committee
Chairman-turned-lobbyist Haley Barber. As Chairman of the House Subcommittee on
International Operations and Human Rights, Rep. Smith is able authoritatively
to make the case that, properly calculated, the United States is -- as usual --
doing far more than its fair share of supporting the United Nations and its
activities. The following are among the highlights of Rep. Smith's article:
The Administration is once again trying to railroad Congress on the issue of
the disputed U.N. arrearages. Its argument is simple: Anyone who opposes giving
a blank check to the United Nations must be an isolationist. This accusation is
almost as outrageous as the charge that the United States has been a deadbeat
when it comes to the United Nations. Indeed, it would be far more accurate to
say that the United States is the United Nation's largest benefactor. A narrow
focus on the arrearages -- the cumulative result of 17 separate disputes over
such issues as U.N. assistance to the Palestine Liberation Organization and
kickbacks paid to communist governments out of U.N. employees' salaries --
ignores the crucial fact in the equation: The United States contributes about
$2 billion to United Nations organizations and activities every year. This is
almost twice the total amount of all disputed arrearages. It is also roughly
three times more than Germany and the United Kingdom pay annually, five times
more than France, and 35 times more than China. Overall, the United States has
paid more than $35 billion in direct payments to the U.N. system in the first
53 years of its existence. We have also paid at least $22 billion since 1992 in
additional costs in support of U.N.-authorized peacekeeping missions. These
amounts dwarf the total contributions of all other countries in the world.
The Bottom Line
The debate over U.N. dues should catalyze congressional efforts to end the
practice of considering Pentagon and other U.S. government accounts as slush-
funds to be plundered at will by an Administration determined to enable
peacekeeping operations that might otherwise be deemed unjustified. This
practice materially degrades the combat capabilities of the American military --
both by diverting troops from their principal missions and training regimens
and by squandering resources urgently needed to maintain and modernize the
force. What is more, it tends to encourage a lack of discipline with respect to
the real costs associated with international interventions in conflict or proto-
conflict situations, a practice that often exposes the United States to still
more expensive, and un-reimbursed, obligations entailed in sustaining (or
withdrawing) peacekeeping units.
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NOTE: The Center's publications are intended to invigorate and enrich the
debate on foreign policy and defense issues. The views expressed do not
necessarily reflect those of all members of the Center's Board of Advisors.
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© 1988-1999, Center for Security Policy
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