A closer look at reasons for the U.N.’s ‘failures’

Re “The U.N. globaloney factory,” Opinion, July 20

If Jonah Goldberg is intent on describing the United Nations’ “failures,” perhaps he should mention the conditions that produced them. During the 1980s, the U.N. teetered on the brink of bankruptcy because the United States failed to repay its massive debts. Ever since, the organization has remained in a chronic condition of financial handicap.

Also, given Goldberg’s position that the U.N. commands little, if any, authority on matters of peace and security, it is interesting that he criticized Iraq for opposing “dozens of U.N. Security Council resolutions that were mandatory” in September 2002.

Why did he regard these particular U.N. pronouncements as legitimate or binding? Although I would still disagree with Goldberg were he to oppose U.N. authority in all instances, I would respect his consistency. He, like far too many others, invokes United Nations authority at his convenience.

ALI SUHAIL WYNE

Fredericksburg, Va.