Editor:

In response to Judd Nielsen’s column (“If the U.N. does exist, it shouldn’t with its present

leadership,” April 15):

He said near the end that there should be some “soul searching” as to whether or not nations with histories of horrible human rights violations should be allowed to hold any position of leadership or even participate as members.

I wonder if he has thought to apply that statement to the United States, which has certainly done some questionable things in the past.

Take for example Vietnam. We dropped napalm on innocent civilians! Can you imagine the outrage if another country were to drop napalm on some innocent little town in North Dakota?

Not only have we violated human rights in Asia but we’ve also done so throughout the Middle East. We’ve waged two illegal wars against Afghanistan and Iraq in just three years. We continue to support the proven human rights violator, Israel!

Maybe tyrannical governments shouldn’t have a place in the U.N., however that would include us.

The U.N. has unquestionably failed the people of Rwanda, and Cuba, and Libya and other countries with governments that either won’t stop, or will promote human rights violations.

I have a theory on why the U.N. has failed. The reason is the U.S. has failed to promote human rights. The U.S. has always been a big player in world affairs, but primarily acts through war. War rarely promotes human rights.

James Comeford

Junior,

Environmental Studies