Sorensen says U.N. could help U.S.
Recent U.S. policies and behavior have “greatly diminished” the nation’s standing in the world, United Nations advocate Gillian Sorensen said Wednesday.
The U.N., she said, provides an opportunity to restore a spirit of international cooperation with the accompanying benefit of burden-sharing.
“It’s time for us to join the rest of the world,” Sorensen told a University of Nebraska College of Law audience.
Sorensen is senior adviser and national advocate for the United Nations Foundation and former assistant U.N. secretary general. She is the wife of Ted Sorensen, the former aide and adviser to President John F. Kennedy and a UNL Law School graduate.
Despite a drumbeat of attacks on the United Nations from “the hard right,” Sorensen said, the world organization can play “a vital role in the future of the United States.”
Fox News and Rush Limbaugh “make it a popular sport to bash the United Nations,” she said. But the U.N. could be a vehicle for restoring U.S. stature, credibility and moral authority while ending this nation’s “self-isolation” from the rest of the world, Sorensen said.
When U.S. policy “allows American agents and soldiers to torture with impunity, the nation’s credibility is demolished,” she said.
The United States acts as the world’s leading purveyor of arms, fueling conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, she said.
“It was our choice to go to war (in Iraq) without letting the U.N. weapons inspectors do their jobs,” Sorensen said.
“The evidence was not credible, not verifiable. And it was false.
“We went to war on our own with a pre-emptive strike, setting a very dangerous precedent.”
Iraq is now “seen as an American war against Islam,” Sorensen said. “What have we done?”
Sorensen said she views her criticism of actions taken by her own country as tough love.
The new U.S. ambassador at the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, has made “an enormous difference” in improving the U.S. presence, she said.
“John Bolton is gone,” Sorensen said with a sweep of her hand.
The United States, she said, ought to “pay its (U.N.) dues in full on time without conditions” and support U.N. reform efforts.
The policy of “American exceptionalism” that leads to U.S. refusal to sign onto a series of United Nations conventions, or agreements, and ignore the Geneva Convention requirements for treatment of prisoners should end, she said.
“The United Nations is not, and never has been, irrelevant,” Sorensen said. “It is imperfect, but it is indispensable,” she said.
Reach Don Walton at 473-7248 or at dwalton@journalstar.com.
The U.N., she said, provides an opportunity to restore a spirit of international cooperation with the accompanying benefit of burden-sharing.
“It’s time for us to join the rest of the world,” Sorensen told a University of Nebraska College of Law audience.
Sorensen is senior adviser and national advocate for the United Nations Foundation and former assistant U.N. secretary general. She is the wife of Ted Sorensen, the former aide and adviser to President John F. Kennedy and a UNL Law School graduate.
Despite a drumbeat of attacks on the United Nations from “the hard right,” Sorensen said, the world organization can play “a vital role in the future of the United States.”
Fox News and Rush Limbaugh “make it a popular sport to bash the United Nations,” she said. But the U.N. could be a vehicle for restoring U.S. stature, credibility and moral authority while ending this nation’s “self-isolation” from the rest of the world, Sorensen said.
When U.S. policy “allows American agents and soldiers to torture with impunity, the nation’s credibility is demolished,” she said.
The United States acts as the world’s leading purveyor of arms, fueling conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, she said.
“It was our choice to go to war (in Iraq) without letting the U.N. weapons inspectors do their jobs,” Sorensen said.
“The evidence was not credible, not verifiable. And it was false.
“We went to war on our own with a pre-emptive strike, setting a very dangerous precedent.”
Iraq is now “seen as an American war against Islam,” Sorensen said. “What have we done?”
Sorensen said she views her criticism of actions taken by her own country as tough love.
The new U.S. ambassador at the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, has made “an enormous difference” in improving the U.S. presence, she said.
“John Bolton is gone,” Sorensen said with a sweep of her hand.
The United States, she said, ought to “pay its (U.N.) dues in full on time without conditions” and support U.N. reform efforts.
The policy of “American exceptionalism” that leads to U.S. refusal to sign onto a series of United Nations conventions, or agreements, and ignore the Geneva Convention requirements for treatment of prisoners should end, she said.
“The United Nations is not, and never has been, irrelevant,” Sorensen said. “It is imperfect, but it is indispensable,” she said.
Reach Don Walton at 473-7248 or at dwalton@journalstar.com.
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