U.S. Debt Owed to United Nations

Re your June 17 editorial about U.S. assessments to the United Nations: Why should we take the U.N. assessment figures over our own? I don’t believe that the “U.N. bookkeepers” truly know what is owed, due to the mismanagement at the U.N. Also, I see nothing wrong with attaching conditions to our payment. Where would the U.N. be without us? Nowhere.

As for being a “deadbeat,” the United States gives out approximately $8 billion in foreign aid each year. Hardly an insignificant amount. Just because we have legitimate issues with the U.N. over management does not make us a “deadbeat.” Just because we don’t want to spill American blood in every conflict around the world does not make us a “deadbeat.” I think the “deadbeats” are those advanced industrial nations that enjoy American military protection, yet are unwilling to shoulder a relatively small increase in U.N. assessments. Not to mention paying those parking tickets.

STEVEN A. TOLLE

Sacramento

* Thank goodness someone has decided to defend the U.N.! It’s about time we Americans realized that we are falling into another era of 1930s-style isolationism and appeasement. Yes, the U.N. is facing many problems after its first half-century, but its advantages greatly outweigh its supposed “threat” to U.S. sovereignty. The insistence of many congressmen and senators to place conditions on back payments will result, and has already resulted, in antagonizing many U.N. member nations.

To maintain peace and an open dialogue with the world, the U.S. must assert its opinions only after it has earned the right--by paying what it owes.

PUNEET K. SANDHU

Fontana