Newt Gingrich - The United Nations
American Interests and UN Reform
In 2005, Congressman Gingrich co-wrote a forward for a paper titled the American Interests and UN Reform for a group called the US Institute of Peace. The paper was the result of a task force on the United Nations.
FOREWORD
This report on the United Nations is a call for action. It is a call for concrete action now. In December 2004, the U.S. Congress, at the behest of Representative Frank Wolf, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Appropriations for Commerce, Justice, and State, mandated the establishment of a bipartisan Task Force on the United Nations. The legislation stipulated that the Task Force, to be organized by the United States Institute of Peace, should report to Congress within six months with its conclusions and recommendations on how to make the United Nations more effective in realizing the goals of its Charter. Task Force members, experts, and staff have worked energetically to carry out this mandate. This has involved extensive research, numerous interviews and meetings with individuals and organizations, and fact-finding missions around the world (see Appendix A).
This report represents the results of the Task Force’s efforts. It is worth underscoring that the Task Force focused on the United Nations from the perspective of American interests and America’s international responsibilities. This is an important distinction. At the same time, core American interests in security, peace, stability, democracy, and human rights are those shared by many other countries around the world.
If we are to see the United Nations recover from its present difficulties, American leadership will be indispensable in effecting change. The time has come for the United Nations to embrace change and reconfirm its place in today’s transformed international environment. We are struck by the United Nations’ own receptivity to needed reforms, but they must be real and must be undertaken promptly. An effective United Nations is in the interests of the United States, but there is nothing exclusive about the United Nations as regards American interests. The United Nations is one of the tools that America, our allies, and other democracies use cooperatively on the basis of our shared values.
The United States is now facing—and must engage with—an altered international environment that is demanding in terms of both challenges and opportunities. Prospects for the continued extension of democracy are significant, but American leadership will remain essential to realizing the positive possibilities for change. All Americans have a vital stake in maintaining international peace and security and promoting universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms. All Americans can be proud of our country’s role in extending liberty around the world. That is why the United States, in its own interests, must lead the United Nations toward greater relevance and capability in this new era. That is the guiding purpose of this Task Force.
The challenges facing the United States and other nations today are also acutely dangerous. Acts of aggression and genocide are international facts of life, not past history. The present example of Darfur, Sudan, is just the latest instance of such gross inhumanity. Terrorists actively seek weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear, biological, and chemical devices. Those behind the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, seek to obtain and use such terrible weapons against us and their other adversaries.
On June 26, 2005, the United Nations will observe the sixtieth anniversary of the signing of its Charter in San Francisco. The United States, under the leadership of Presidents Roosevelt and Truman, played a major role in 1945 in bringing about the creation of the United Nations. The stated goals and principles of the Charter embody and reflect American interests and values now just as then. They are as relevant in 2005 as they were in 1945.
The United States pursues its interests in international affairs, including issues of peace, stability, trade, and national security, in collaboration with others wherever possible. Our actions are usually more effective when they are taken in concert with others. At the same time, the United States can, and sometimes must, act independently if collective efforts cannot be achieved or are ineffective. The United States advances its interests through a range of multilateral arrangements, with both established organizations and ad hoc coalitions. A strong and effective United Nations can be an important instrument for the pursuit of the American goals of freedom and security. In this sense, the goals enshrined in the UN Charter—particularly those regarding international peace and security, and the promotion of respect for fundamental human rights—have never been more significant.
The world of 2005, however, is not that of 1945. Challenges to security are taking new and more lethal forms. There is an urgent need for international organizations that are effective and credible. Collective international efforts are necessary to deal with terrorism, nuclear proliferation, human rights abuses, international conflict and genocide, natural disasters and the spread of infectious diseases, and economic deprivation and poverty. The United Nations, as well as regional organizations, can be important vehicles for dealing with these challenges.
Just as the United States today is restructuring its domestic institutions to deal with the realities of the post-9/11 world, so too must the United Nations. As it approaches its sixtieth anniversary, the United Nations needs reform and reinvigoration. Otherwise, the organization risks declining credibility, and its own future will be at risk. Millions of lives are at stake on these issues. These are the challenges on which this Task Force on the United Nations has focused its work.
The legislation establishing the Task Force (see Appendix B) specified that it should be made up of twelve members and should consist of experts from the American Enterprise Institute, the Brookings Institution, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Hoover Institution, and the Heritage Foundation. In consultation with Representative Frank Wolf, the principal sponsor of the legislation, the U.S. Institute of Peace solicited nominations for Task Force members from these organizations. The members of the Task Force are a diverse and bipartisan group of distinguished Americans from a variety of professions and backgrounds. We, the authors of this foreword, agreed to cochair the Task Force. Other members include Wesley K. Clark, Wesley K. Clark and Associates; Edwin Feulner, the Heritage Foundation; Roderick Hills, Hills & Stern; Donald McHenry, Georgetown University; Danielle Pletka, American Enterprise Institute; Thomas R. Pickering, the Boeing Company; Anne-Marie Slaughter, Princeton University; A. Michael Spence, Oak Hill Capital Partners; Malcolm Wallop, Frontiers of Freedom; and R. James Woolsey, Booz Allen Hamilton. The senior advisors to the Task Force are Charles Boyd, Business Executives for National Security, and J. Robinson West, PFC Energy.
This report is a consensus document. Members nonetheless reserve the right to offer additional comments and recommendations as individuals apart from the Task Force.
Richard H. Solomon, president of the United States Institute of Peace, oversaw the organization of the Task Force and its efforts, under the leadership of its executive director, George Ward, and staff members Gary Matthews, Sloan Mann, and Heather Sensibaugh. Special recognition is also due to Lee Feinstein, Council on Foreign Relations, and William Sanders, American Enterprise Institute, for their essential role in finalizing the report.
In chairing the Task Force, we have drawn on our long involvement in international affairs, which includes our respective services as Speaker of the House of Representatives and as Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate. Although Task Force members were nominated by the specified organizations, they have participated in the work of the Task Force as individuals, not in any organizational capacity. Task Force members and senior advisors are listed at the end of the report.
The Task Force was organized around five substantive areas, or Task Groups:
- Preventing and ending conflicts and building stable societies.
- Preventing and responding to genocide and gross human rights violations.
- Preventing catastrophic terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
- Ensuring the effectiveness, integrity, transparency, and accountability of the UN system.
- Fostering economic development and reducing poverty.
Following the provisions of the legislation, the specified organizations were requested to nominate experts with competencies in the above areas. Task Force members were also asked to focus their attention on one or two of the thematic areas noted above. A list of the five Task Groups with members and experts involved in each is also provided at the end of this report.
The sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the United Nations provides a window of opportunity for reform. The difficulties confronting the organization today provide the rationale and incentive to make the United Nations more effective in meeting the high purposes of its Charter. It is very important to emphasize, however, that this opportunity to revitalize the United Nations will not last for long. All who want an effective and credible United Nations must act now.
This Task Force report is direct in its analysis and identification of problems. It is also direct in making actionable recommendations, which can and should be implemented apace—and not become tied up in an overly ambitious package that never gets delivered.
Finally, based on our long experience as legislators, we believe that there must be continuing congressional oversight of UN management and implementation of reforms in view of the significant American interests and substantial U.S. funding involved in the work of this organization. That is the premise of this report, with its specific action recommendations, which is hereby submitted formally to the Congress.
CBS Foreign Policy Debate
On November 11, 2011 Speaker Gingrich participated in the CBS foreign policy debate. He spoke about his opposition to Agenda 21 and the need to reform how the US deals wtih the UN.
Major Garrett: If you were president, how would you think outside the box about some of the issues we've discussed here tonight?
Newt Gingrich: Well, in a number of ways. As I said earlier, I would-- I would explicitly adopt the Reagan/John Paul II/ Thatcher strategy towards Iran. I would do the same thing towards North Korea. I would adopt a very strong policy towards the United Nations of-- dramatically taken on its-- its absurdities. I would explicitly repudiate what Obama's done on Agenda 21 as the kind of interference from the United Nations that's wrong.
There are a number of other areas. I would also, frankly, apply-- Lean Six Sigma to the Pentagon to liberate the money to rebuild the na-- we're-- we-- we-- we need a capital investment program. And this administration is shrinking the Navy to a point where it's going to be incapable of its doing its job worldwide. So there are a number of places I would be thinking outside the box.
Fox News Iowa Debate
On December 15, 2011 Congressman Gingrich participated in the Fox News Iowa debate. He was asked about the UN and spoke about its inability to deal with the crisis in Israel.
MODERATOR: Thank you — we have been liberal with our friendly ding.
Mr. Speaker, you have been openly critical of the United Nations. For example on the topic of Palestinian efforts for statehood at the U.S. you said, quote, “we don’t need to fund a corrupt institution to beat up on our allies.”
In a Gingrich administration would the United States leave the UN?
GINGRICH: No, but we would dramatically reduce our reliance on it. And we’d confront certain realities. People talk about a peace process. 11 missiles were fired in Israel last month, last month. Over 200 missiles fired at Israel this year. You think if we had 11 missiles fired in the United States we — well, this president anyway would say gee, maybe we could communicate and you would like us more.
But I don’t think there is — you know, I think most of us, most Americans would say you know if you are firing missiles at me, that may not be a good gesture. OK? The United Nations camps that we have helped fund have been training grounds for terrorism.
As Congressman Bachmann pointed out the last time we debated, she was over there with textbooks that are clearly teaching terrorism that are indirectly funded by the United States through the UN.
We have no obligation to lie and every obligation to tell the truth about how bad the UN bureaucracy is and why it ought to be fixed or we ought to radically cut what we’re paying.
Sponsored and Cosponsored Legislation
This representative has not been identified as sponsoring or cosponsoring significant legislation related to this title.