From the editor.

The United Nations celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, looking worn and haggard to the casual observer. In its infancy, the UN was widely regarded as "mankind's last best hope for peace." These days, the organization appears inept, toothless, and scandalous; it suffers from bureaucratic paralysis; it fails to put teeth behind its own resolutions; and it is has become mired in a series of scandals--chief among them the multi-billion dollar oil-for-food rip off.

The "Reform" Gambit 

To deflect attention from the scandals, to resuscitate the decrepit-looking world body, and to give it a face-lift, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has put forward a reform package for discussion by a General Assembly summit of world leaders this September. This package, called In Larger Freedom, would amount to the biggest overhaul of the UN since its founding in 1945. And how would Annan "reform" the world body? A chapter heading in his report encapsulates his vision: "Strengthening the United Nations."

It is not surprising that the secretary-general, who is personally implicated in the oil-for-food scandal, would advocate fixing the UN by strengthening it. More significant is the fact that supposed conservatives, who have voiced criticism of the UN in the past, have joined liberals in calling for "reforms" that would empower the world body.

One of those voices is President Bush, who asked the following questions in his speech to the UN General Assembly in 2002: "Are Security Council resolutions to be honored and enforced, or cast aside without consequence? Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding, or will it be irrelevant?" Clarifying his own position, Mr. Bush went on to explain: "The United States helped found the United Nations. We want the United Nations to be effective, and respected, and successful. We want the resolutions of the world's most important multilateral body to be enforced."

Simply put, Mr. Bush's complaint with the UN is not that the world body is too relevant but that it risks irrelevancy, not that it is too threatening but that it is too weak, not that it serves "the purpose of its founding" but that it falls short of that purpose. Like Kofi Annan, Mr. Bush wants to "reform" the UN by strengthening it. The same is true of many other "conservatives," who, like Bush, have joined the left in calling for UN empowerment under the false flag of reform.

Time to Check Out of the UN

In this special issue of THE NEW AMERICAN, we show that the UN was created for the purpose of gradually becoming a world government. From 1945 to the present, the global power elites who created and control the UN have never deviated from that purpose. In fact, through various means both inside and outside the UN itself--International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Trade Organization, International Criminal Court, etc.--these elitists have gradually been amassing power at the global level. As we show herein, the UN system is not nearly as impotent as it may now appear to be.

If the neo-conservative and liberal champions of UN "reform" are successful, the American people will once again be deceived and the UN will be given even more power on the road to world government. And if the goal of world government is achieved, nationhood, as well as freedom, will be swallowed up by a power-hungry elite whose abuses will make the recent oil-for-food scandal appear insignificant by comparison.

Instead of "reforming" the UN, all Americans who value freedom should work to get the U.S. out of the UN. The John Birch Society, of which this magazine is an affiliate, has been campaigning to "Get US out!" for decades. We encourage all readers to join us in this battle cry.