Disarmament Documentation

'Danforth Affirms "Essential Value" of United Nations', Washington File, January 13, 2005.

USUN PRESS RELEASE

Remarks by Ambassador John C. Danforth
U.S. Representative to the United Nations,
in the Security Council,
January 13, 2005

Thank you for your very kind words. I hope the Council would indulge me for a few words of my own.

Let me say what an excellent experience I have had here. It has only been about a little over six months, but I can remember when President Bush telephoned me and asked me if I would serve as the U.S. Representative at the United Nations. And I asked the President if he believed whether this was an important job, whether he believed the United Nations was important and he assured me that indeed it was. And on that representation I agreed to take this job, and the experience that I have had serving here has proved to me that the United Nations is indeed very, very important. I think it's important to the world and I think it's important to the United States.

Clearly, Mr. President, as you pointed out, with respect to Sudan the Security Council did play an instrumental role. I don't think there's any doubt about that. The parties recognize that. The various peacekeeping efforts we have put in place, to the UN's response to the tsunami disaster, all of these are instances where the United Nations has demonstrated its essential quality.

I have been personally impressed by my colleagues on the Council and impressed by their seriousness and impressed by their competence and particularly impressed by the way in which very diverse nations have joined together in serious efforts to address important questions.

It struck me as odd, for the first month or so, how we would get all tied up in wordsmithing, the difference between demands and urges or the difference between measures and sanctions and so on. But thinking about it, it really is evidence of the fact that people from all over the world are trying to reach together to bridge differences and to define formulations that bridge differences and allow us to move forward in addressing matters of very serious concern.

A lot of people have criticized the United Nations, especially recently, and they've a lot to criticize in the United Nations, the oil-for-food issue, the problem of abuses by peacekeepers, especially in the Congo, and there will always be things to criticize. But those points of criticism did not detract, and do not detract, from the essential value of the United Nations.

Insofar as my own country is concerned, a lot of people have voiced concern even opposition to the United Nations. I think the reasons for that are understandable; people complain, well, the United Nations doesn't always support the U.S., especially on the issue of the war in Iraq, representatives from various countries and people in the Secretariat make comments that we would rather have them not make. I would simply say in that connection the United States is a big country, it's a very strong country, it's a well-meaning country, it really tries to do the right thing. And nobody likes opposition; and nobody likes criticism. But simply because the U.S. is big, and because the U.S. is strong, it is important to be particularly open to the views of other people and the views that sometimes are different than our own. We have a concept in our own country called checks and balances, which is a governmental concept, but it is very important that the stronger you are to be a country that listens and that takes on board the views of others even though we may not end up agreeing with those views. And the UN is a place where we can speak, the U.S. can speak, it's also a place where we can listen, whether we end up agreeing or disagreeing with what we hear.

And so when President Bush said to me that the United Nations is important, it seems to me that as I leave this post, it's even more important than I thought it was when I came here. The United Nations is important for the welfare and the stability of the world. And it is important for the welfare of the United States as well.

So, Mr. President, I thank you for your very kind remarks. And I want to thank my colleagues on the Council for their friendship and for their support these last six months.

Source: State Department, http://usinfo.state.gov.