Letter: U.S. should pull out of U.N.

Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2003 | 8:53 a.m.

In his brief speech to the nation on Sept. 7, President Bush made a major admission that no one in the mass media pointed out. While the nation and the world have been led to believe that the United States skirted the United Nations and acted alone in attacking Iraq, Bush pointed to "our decision to enforce the Security Council resolutions and remove Saddam Hussein from power." Therefore, the United States acted under U.N. Security Council authorization.

Bush's admission confirms our nation's continuing subordination to the United Nations. The little-known Article 25 of the U.N. Charter states: "The Members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council in accordance with the present Charter." That places the U.N. Charter above the U.S. Constitution.

A president swears an oath to the U.S. Constitution, not to the U.N. Charter. If the U.N. Security Council mandates conflict with the Constitution, as U.N. peacekeeping duty surely does, then the Constitution must be honored. Moreover, the Constitution does not permit a president, acting alone or acting with U.N. authorization, to take the nation to war or to "carry out" Security Council decisions. Obviously, the U.S. Constitution and the U.N. Charter are incompatible.

The only course for U.S. leaders who intend to adhere to their oath of office is to withdraw the United States from the United Nations, thereby restating our nation's unqualified independence.

FRANK M. PELTESON