THOSE PEOPLE YOUR MOTHER WARNED YOU ABOUT

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Your mother told you not to hang around with bad
people. Mothers say things like, "You're known by the company you keep."
Mothers everywhere are famous for admonishing, "Don't hang around with the
wrong people." If Julius Caesar had taken his mother's advice, he would
never have befriended Brutus. Hanging out with a bad crowd can bring you to
a bad end. Every mother knows that.

So why are so many mother's sons in Washington upset about the United
States getting kicked out of two high-profile United Nations committees? Is
it the $1.5 billion the United States gives to the U.N. each year, or is it
simply the embarrassment of it all? Earlier this week, White House
spokesman Ari Fleischer said President Bush was "disappointed" and "let
down" that the United States would no longer be part of the U.N. Human
Rights Commission and the International Narcotics Control Board. State
Department spokesman Richard Boucher was almost distraught when he said,
"We find, very regrettable" the secret ballot in the 54-member U.N.
Economic and Social Council that booted us off the two panels.

And then, just to make sure everyone knew how bad official Washington
really felt about this terrible affront, "senior U.S. officials" proceeded
to "background" reporters on how we had been maligned by our "friends" at
Kofi Annan's big blue building on the banks of the East River. "We had
written pledges that were not kept!" moaned one. Another sniffed,
"Commitments were broken." Fleischer was caught on the record saying,
"Those nations (that voted us off) did not keep their word."

What? Devious betrayal at the United Nations! Can it be? Stow the angst.
Get a grip. Suck it up. Forget the chiding of the Blame-America-First-Crowd
and get on with life. Despite the critique of the so-called mainstream
media and the nattering of backbench Democrats, these aren't the kind of
people who would have earned your mother's approval anyway.

The 54-member U.N. Human Rights Commission (UNHRC), on which the United
States has had a seat since 1947, has on it today some of the most unsavory
characters on the planet. They don't want the United States; they just want
our money. And they are glad to have as members in good standing such
stalwart protectors of human rights as communist China, Cuba, Indonesia,
Libya, Pakistan, Russia, Sudan, Syria and Vietnam.

All, save Russia, have been cited by the UNHRC in recent years for horrific
human rights abuses, denial of religious freedoms, ethnic atrocities and
political repression. And if the UNHRC had been more sensitive to human
rights than diplomatic political correctness, Moscow would have been
challenged for its brutal suppression of Chechnya.

Then there's Sudan. According to the State Department's Country Reports on
Human Rights Practices, the regime in Khartoum, now proudly represented on
the UNHRC, is responsible for, among other things, "extra-judicial
killings," "disappearances" and "torture." Government security forces "beat
refugees, reportedly raped women abducted during raids, and ... harassed
and detained persons on the basis of their religion. Prison conditions
remained harsh and life-threatening, prolonged detention is a problem, and
the judiciary continued to be subservient to the government."

So should we be surprised that this week a Red Cross plane was shot down
over Sudan, killing the 26-year-old Danish copilot?

Who would want to serve on a panel next to a country with a record like
this? Allowing Sudan and these other repressive regimes to serve on the
U.N. Human Rights Commission gives new meaning to the word "hypocrisy."

And as for the International Narcotics Control Board, from which we were
also secretly ousted, it's more of the same. The 13-member drug panel
includes Russia, Iran, Nigeria, Mexico, Chile, Colombia and China. It's
supposed to monitor compliance with international drug conventions on
substance abuse and illegal trafficking, and report on government controls
over chemicals used in the illicit manufacture of drugs. Ronald Reagan
first appointed Ambassador Herbert Okun, the U.S. representative on the
Control Board, to the U.N. in 1985. They will miss the 70-year old diplomat
far more than he will miss them.

Like the nations sitting on the Human Rights Commission, representatives on
the Drug Commission are mired in controversy. France, according to the
State Department, is a "transshipment point for drugs moving in Europe."
Colombia is the world's No. 1 producer and distributor of cocaine and a
major supplier of heroin to the United States. Approximately 55 percent of
all the cocaine sold in the United States makes it way through Mexico.

Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the Clinton administration's Drug Czar, summed it up
just about right when he said, "Moves to exclude the U.S. from these
organizations could add to the sentiment in Congress that would say, 'Why
should we support regional or multinational U.N. operations?'"

Why indeed. Your mother wouldn't want you hanging around with people like
these. And she wouldn't want you to pay to be a member of their club
either. Thanks, Mom.