Posted on 02/12/2002 1:38:18 AM PST by kattracks
(CNSNews.com) - A draft report by the General Accounting Office reveals that former President Clinton contributed over $24 billion for U.N. peacekeeping missions around the world between 1995 and 2001, money that wasn't officially credited to the U.S. account by the United Nations.
The report shows that America's "debt" to the United Nations was more than compensated for by extra peacekeeping assistance that the world organization never gave the United States credit for, U.N. critics said.
"This new GAO report makes it absolutely clear that the U.S. debt to the U.N. was a complete fraud," said Cliff Kincaid, a journalist and president of America's Survival, who released a copy of the draft report.
"And remember that this report only covers the fiscal years 1996 - 2001," Kincaid added. "If the complete years of the Clinton administration were taken into account, the figure could rise by several more billions."
The Clinton era saw an explosion in the number of U.N-sponsored peacekeeping missions carried out by U.S. forces that were not necessarily supported by Congress.
Those peacekeeping operations were the cause of heated disagreements over dues, including debates on whether the United States had accumulated sufficient back dues to be voted out of the U.N. General Assembly.
Between fiscal years 1996 and 2001, the United States directly contributed an estimated $3.45 billion to support U.N. peacekeeping, the report states.
During the same period, however, U.S. indirect contributions to U.N. peacekeeping amounted to $24.2 billion.
Of the $24.2 billion figure, the GAO found that the largest indirect contribution - about $21.8 billion - was for U.S. military operations and services. This meant military personnel and equipment had to be diverted from Pentagon operations to the United Nations.
The GAO defined indirect contributions as "U.S. programs and activities that are located in the same area as an ongoing U.N. peacekeeping operation, have objectives that help the peacekeeping operation achieve its mandated objectives, and are not an official part of the U.N. operation."
For example, estimated U.S. indirect contributions to U.N. operations in Kosovo and East Timor, which involved nation building and the training of local government agencies, "amounted to over $5.1 billion and included military operations to help provide a secure environment and programs to provide food and shelter for refugees and train police and court officials."
Congress Limits U.S. Contribution
The United Nations assesses member states a percentage share of the total cost of peacekeeping operations. The U.S. assessed share has historically been over 30 percent of total peacekeeping costs.
In November 1994, Congress limited the amount the United States could pay to 25 percent of peacekeeping costs, beginning in fiscal year 1996, the report noted. However, the United Nations continued to bill the United States at its historically 30 percent of total costs, leading to U.S. arrears.
In 2000, U.N. member states agreed to change the assessment formula and to drop the U.S. share of the peacekeeping budget over a three-year period to 27 percent, the report said.
Between fiscal years 1996, which began October 1995, and June 30, 2001, the United Nations conducted 33 peacekeeping operations in 28 countries, according to the report. As of January 2002, 15 of these operations were still ongoing in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, involving over 47,000 military personnel, civilian police, and observers.
"When you're spending American taxpayer dollars you need accountability for American taxpayer dollars, and the procedure that the U.N. has of requesting donations and the practice of the Clinton administration to categorize expenditures as donations removes that accountability," said a senior official familiar with the GAO report.
Speaking at Heritage Foundation in Washington, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Negroponte said of U.S. involvement in peacekeeping operations: "If there is a threat to international peace and security out there, and it needs to be dealt with, it is better that we do it where possible with other partners who are picking up part of the cost."
He added: "So I would say that while we always want to be careful about the costs and we always want to be careful about where it is that we decide to undertake U.N. peacekeeping operations, there are demonstrable benefits for the United States."
E-mail a news tip to Lawrence Morahan.
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clinton wanted to be...and acted as though he was the Secretary General of the United Nations.
Can anyone tell me ONE time in eight years when clinton reacted to the UN by standing up for the sovereign and economic security of the United States?
The money was diverted, but did it really go to what it was being diverted for?
I'll bet there's more to this story than just the diversion...
By Timothy P Carney
The General Accounting Office (GAO) in early August burned its copies of the arrest records of 75,000 aliens who had been improperly naturalized by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) during the 1996 Citizenship USA (CUSA) project, which aimed at creating a million new citizens in time for that year's presidential election.
The GAO, an investigative arm of Congress, had held the documents for two years on behalf of the House Judiciary Committee. It acted with the approval of Judiciary's Immigration and Claims Subcommittee, which is chaired by Rep. Lamar Smith (R.-Tex.)...
The U.N. is not just, as many Americans suspect, a group of incompetent busybodies. It is, instead, a global criminal enterprise determined to shift power away from individuals and sovereign nation-states to a small band of unaccountable international elites.
Jessie Helms....... . "I know it has been suggested to some of you that the president alone speaks for the United States in foreign affairs. And in most of the nations of the world--even the great democracies--that is indeed the case," Helms said. "Not so in the United States."
"... Helms has long criticized the United Nations for what he considers to be its bloated bureaucracy, over reliance on U.S. money and overly ambitious peacekeeping efforts..."
..."These values, which we would label socialist at best and Marxist at worst, have consistently appeared in U.N. documents since the late 1980s. Appearing with repackaged names, they have dominated all international conferences, agreements, and treaties. Marxist transfer-of-wealth schemes, the demonization of capitalism, enforced equity among peoples, etc. are all part and parcel of the new globalist rhetoric...
Is it any wonder Kofi looks so worried these days, his gravy train, the Clinton Special, has been side tracked! The GAO could not account for billions of dollars during the Clintons administration when asked to. The GAO should have been made to show what the Clintons were doing for eight long years. This makes that outfit just as culpable as Bill and Hill. The United Nations is a haven for terrorists countries and their leaders and untill Kofi and his Merry Band of Marxists are brought to heel, the United States should play no part in keeping these thugs in limos and fancy apartments, private planes and such. Let them work for a living once in their lives. American taxpayers have been duped once again for the leftist in this country.
Isn't this the same kind of thing that the Democrats crucified the Reagan administration for during Iran Contra?
The more important part, however, is that this money was taken from the Pentagon's current budget during those years. This means that modernization, training, spare parts, updates on equipment, ammunition, operations, R&D plans, etc., all were shortchanged. The Pentagon complained about this for years, but no one listened.
Even Congress turned a deaf ear while the Pentagon budget was raided. They didn't want to appropriate more for the 5gon or for Clintonian adventurism. That's why readiness went to hell.
I agree with your view, but my pet peeve (sp) is that Clinton and his spinners are getting a limited amount of positive press about the condition of our military when he left office based on our initial success in Afghanistan. Our military was/is designed to fight a major war on two fronts with potential enemies like China or North Korea. Both have legitimate military assets unlike the Taliban.
Anyone who uses Afghanistan as a barometer for the condition Clinton left our military readiness is a fool, IMHO.
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That's pretty loose.
So that would include running arms supplies to the Croats and Bosnian Moslems via third countries and airdrops, associated intelligence support for Operation Storm such as MPRI, arming and training of the KLA and the 'selective' ams embargo on the territories of the Former Yugoslavia. I wonder how much of this can be attributed to keeping a civil war going. Thank you x.42! / Sarcasm
VRN
On April 8, 1998, representatives from forty groups met to discuss plans to counteract opposition which has so far successfully stopped payment of $18 billion Bill Clinton claims is due in "UN arrears." Opposition to the payment, which has developed as Rep. Roscoe Bartlett and people like Talk Show Host Mike Reagan who have aired the truth about the so-called "debt to the UN" America doesn't owe, is really worrying a lot of folks who depend on that money funding their causes. Rep. Bartlett began talking about a General Accounting Office (GAO) Report last year which stated that rather than the United States owing the United Nations, in fact the United Nations was billions of dollars in debt to the United States for peacekeeping missions it had not reimbursed us for.
They are touting this as a new report? Sounds like they just regurgitated the old one to me.
They did...see post 55.
This is a GAO Report no right wing conspiracy.
Think about how this plays against the liberals...we are in crises with a military that was defunded in comprehensive terms. This is a total misuse of funds (maybe not in legal terms) but in terms of misleading Americans and proving the loathing of the military. This is a multiplier of how little regard Democratic Administrations and liberals care about our personal security.
Barb in Texas
Home of Bush 41 & Bush 43 and their wonderful wives Barbara and Laura!!!!
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