Bush Proposes More Money for U.N. By Cliff Kincaid Libya heads the U.N. Human Rights Commission and Iraq is to head a U.N. disarmament panel. Such developments led columnist Charles Krauthammer to say the world body should "rest in peace" and fade away. Sean Hannity said the U.N. didn't deserve another dime. But President Bush's fiscal year 2004 budget proposes an increase in spending on the United Nations and other international organizations. The White House didn't want to talk about that, and a "fact sheet" said the president's budget proposal would "strengthen our economy, prosecute the war against terror, defend our nation and allow Americans to keep more of their own money." The Washington Post referred to it indirectly, saying, "Aside from national defense, homeland security and international affairs, spending on the rest of government would grow [only] by one-half of 1 percent from 2002 levels." On January 30, the paper had run a glowing tribute to U.N. chief Kofi Annan, the "respected diplomat" whose job is to keep "the global peace." The U.N., which has dragged its feet on Iraq, North Korea and other critical matters, would see more money in the Bush budget. Official State Department calculations show contributions to international organizations rising to over $1 billion in fiscal year 2004, as opposed to $891 million in 2003. In addition to the U.N., international organizations getting more money include the International Cotton Advisory Committee. The cotton group's budget rises to $280,000 a year. The International Rubber Study Group gets $124,000, and The International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants gets $166,000 The U.S. Institute for Peace, a bipartisan boondoggle, sees a rise in its budget to $17 million a year. Using taxpayer dollars, it duplicates what other think tanks and foundations do with private money. One highlight of the budget, which was mentioned by the president in his State of the Union address, is a $15 billion initiative against AIDS. This virtually triples U.S. funding to fight the disease. One problem is that the government, internationally, doesn't emphasize a change in sexual behavior by encouraging abstinence. The U.S. Agency for International Development promotes condoms to fight AIDS and says it has already distributed more than one billion of them worldwide. It even provides them to "sex workers" in brothels. Ken Connor of the Family Research Council objects to that, arguing that promoting abstinence should be the only prevention strategy the taxpayers are asked to fund. He also maintains that abstinence is the only strategy that really works. At home, he notes that the president had requested a modest $167 million for abstinence education but it has been whittled down by $30 million and still not been approved by Congress. There's no talk of abstinence among U.N. peacekeepers, who get a condom-a-day under a program started by Kofi Annan. Ironically, the U.N. started distributing condoms to peacekeepers because of U.S. concern that U.N. forces were spreading AIDS in the very countries they were supposed to protect. (30)              Printer-friendly version Click here to be added to our mailing list.