Letter: The president is far from anti-U.N.

Friday, Oct. 21, 2005 | 8:17 a.m.

Amazingly, even though his administration has been more supportive of more radical programs for U.N. empowerment than any previous administration, many of his loyal supporters (and opponents) still cling to the false image -- projected both by the Bush spin machine and the media spinmeisters -- that George W. Bush is the most anti-U.N. president ever.

Many on both the left and the right may find it hard to believe, but the left-wing Clinton administration actually presided over a real cut in foreign aid appropriations (from $17.2 billion in 1993 to $16.5 billion in 2001).

The "conservative" Bush, on the other hand, has led the charge to a more than 125 percent increase in foreign aid giveaways in just his first four years as president (from $16.5 billion in 2001 to $37.8 billion in 2005). And Bush had brought with him to the U.N. a laundry list of new foreign aid spending programs he plans to send to Congress for approval.

In his U.N. address of the World Summit on Sept. 14, Bush openly boasted of a pseudo-generosity with other people's money: "It's essential we work together, and as we do so, we will fulfill a moral duty to protect our citizens, and heal the sick, and comfort the afflicted."

I think that Bush's boast sounds more like a proclamation from Hillary Clinton than a statement by a self-described "conservative" president.

I wonder, is there still a difference between Republicans and Democrats?

Frank M. Pelteson

Las Vegas