Letter: Standing U.N. force needed

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Friday, Oct. 16, 1998 | 11:47 a.m.

Ideally, we would be able to use United Nations forces. However, we have weakened the U.N. to where we must use more of our own forces.

President Clinton proposed a standing U.N. peacekeeping force that could react quickly and effectively when he ran for president in 1992. It is an idea whose time has come.

Unfortunately, Congress' State Department Authorization bill which would provide U.N. funding requires the condition that all peacekeeping missions be done by organizations other than the U.N. (e.g., NATO). This is undesirable, and Clinton is right to reject it.

We need a serious national dialogue on how best that peacekeeping should take place in the world.

Robert E. Griffin