A resolution asking Congress to get the United States out of the United Nations passed a Utah House committee Tuesday, but it is unclear if its ultimate passage would have any fallout.
Rep. Don Bush's HR7 has no power of law. It would only be a statement of how the House alone feels; it does not go to the Senate nor to Gov. Mike Leavitt for approval. Still some legislators worried about the message it may send as America prepares for war against Iraq and President Bush implores the United Nations to stand with the United States against Saddam Hussein.
In fact, Leavitt spokeswoman Natalie Gochnour said Leavitt "understands these sentiments" of getting the United States out of the United Nations. "But he does not share them," she said.
No one at the committee hearing spoke against HR7, while around a dozen people wanted to speak in favor. Over an hour of testimony led to only two members voting against it — Reps. Roz McGee, D-Salt Lake, and Loraine Pace, R-Logan.
The resolution now goes to the House for consideration. If it passes, it will be sent to the Utah delegation and Congress. However, state legislatures send hundreds of resolutions to Congress each year, and while they may be read into the Congressional Record, their political impact is unclear.
Pace said the United States is the strongest country in the world and that it has not abrogated its sovereignty to the United Nations. "Our president and Congress" decide where and when to commit American troops, she said.
Utah's congressional delegation "does not support" getting out of the United Nations at this time, she added. "I've talked to them. As we approach war we should not send this message — that we do not want to talk at the (U.N.) table."
At the end of his presentation, Bush, R-Clearfield, showed the committee the medals he won fighting in WWII and the Korean War, the latter a war sanctioned and supported by the United Nations. "I actually have a U.N. medal," he pointed out.
But because the United Nations has for years stood against American values and has not supported the United States in many "of the things it says and does," Bush said now is the perfect time — with another U.N.-sanctioned war possible in Iraq — to make the statement that we should get out of the United Nations.
"If not for the United Nations, we wouldn't have a North and South Korea; it would be a whole country" because the United States would have won that war, said Bush. "If no U.N,, no Iraq. We could have finished them off" in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, he added.
McGee said while much testimony was given on why the United Nations doesn't reflect some American values, "nothing was said about U.N. programs on (preventing) the abuse of women and children, its worldwide education programs, its advocacy of the free enterprise system and its battles against disease and hunger." Ed McGarr of Lindon rattled off more than a dozen UN operations where U.S. troops were sent on "combat, peace-keeping or other missions" since 1990. Few Americans have even heard of these operations, he said, which have cost the U.S. taxpayer $23 billion over a decade. He said he'd be proud to have his 13-year-old son fight and die for an American cause and war, but certainly not for a U.N. war.
Gayle Ruzicka of Utah Eagle Forum says her national organization sends lobbyists around the world monitoring the work of the United Nations. The United Nations doesn't stand for American rights or beliefs, she said, "whether it's on abortion, homosexual rights or equal rights. Their positions are outrageous. Please, the message this resolution sends is important."
"This issue is bigger than the Utah Legislature," said Ann Turner, head of the northern Utah branch of Get Us Out of the United Nations.
Godless and greedy men, bent on power and control, created the United Nations, she said.
E-MAIL: bbjr@desnews.com