A perverse spectacle took place recently in Switzerland. Top U.S. State Department officials sat in a U.N. forum and listened as one totalitarian nation after another denounced the United States’ human rights record.
Hypocritically condemning America were countries such as Venezuela, where strongman Hugo Chavez fiercely suppresses political opposition; Communist China, whose human rights record has been one of the worst in the world for decades; and Iran, whose radical Muslim regime wants to wipe the nation of Israel off the map.
They criticized the United States — the freest, greatest country in the history of the world — as a land awash in racism, bigotry toward Muslims, mistreatment of women and children, and other supposed ills.
“We acknowledge imperfection,” Michael Posner, U.S. assistant secretary of State for human rights, meekly told the U.N. “Human Rights Council,” which has long been infested with members from nations that have extremely little regard for human rights. While defending the United States on some points, he said the Obama administration is “not satisfied with the status quo.”
One does not need to believe America is “perfect” to realize that we never should have submitted our rights record for the approval or disapproval of this corrupt U.N. body.
The Bush administration very properly kept the Human Rights Council at arm’s length. It is appalling that the Obama administration has given the council false legitimacy by willingly subjecting our country’s policies to its review. Whatever America’s faults may be, the U.N. has no moral authority to condemn this nation.