US LOSES SEAT ON UN COMMITTEE

UNITED NATIONS - In another embarrassing blow, the United States lost
its seat on an international drug monitoring body on the same day it
was voted off the U.N. Human Rights Commission, U.S. officials
confirmed Monday.

The United States had campaigned for a third term for American
representative Herbert Okun, who has served as vice president on the
International Narcotics Control Board. But he was voted off Thursday
in the same secret-ballot procedure and by the same countries that
cost the United States its seat on the human rights commission.

"That, we find, very regrettable," U.S. State Department spokesman
Richard Boucher said in Washington on Monday. He said the United
States would continue its "strong support" for the U.N. anti-drug
programs.

The 13-member International Narcotics Control Board monitors
compliance with U.N. drug conventions on substance abuse and illegal
trafficking.

Seven countries - Iran, Brazil, India, Peru, France, the Netherlands,
and Austria - were elected to the board Thursday. China, Russia,
Nigeria, Turkey, Mexico, and Chile complete their current terms in
2005.

Boucher would not speculate as to why Okun lost re-election but,
coupled with the loss of the human rights seat, he said "there's
something happening out there."

"Clearly, I think it's fair to speculate there may be issues related
to how we handled ourselves, to how we position," he said.

Former U.S. drug policy director Barry McCaffrey said American's
absence would be felt more by other countries than by the United
States.

"It's a great loss to the international community to not have us in a
leadership position. We play a dominant role in the research and
development of drug treatment programs in the world," said McCaffrey,
who used to head the Office of National Drug Control Policy in
Washington.

"The assistance that we are able to provide the United Nations, the
Europeans and former Soviet Union states could be adversely
affected," McCaffrey told AP.

The 54-member U.N. Economic and Social Council, the main U.N. body
responsible for economic and social issues, cast secret ballots
Thursday that led to the U.S. ouster from the narcotics board and the
Human Rights Commission. The human rights vote spurred calls by some
U.S. lawmakers to withhold $582 million in back dues for the United
Nations and $67 million to rejoin UNESCO 17 years after the United
States left over concerns about political polarization.

"We've put time and energy and money and leadership into these
international (drug) programs," McCaffrey said, adding that another
strike at the United States could "add to the sentiment in Congress
that would say, 'Why should we support regional or multinational U.N.
operations?' "

The 70-year-old Okun served as deputy U.S. ambassador to the United
Nations from 1985 to 1989 and has been on the narcotics board since
1992.

In the corridors at the United Nations, diplomats and U.N. officials
said after the human rights defeat that the United States didn't
lobby hard enough. The absence of a U.S. ambassador to the United
Nations for nearly four months has exacerbated the problem.

Many nations - including the United States' European allies - are
angry at the Bush administration's decision to pull out of an
agreement to reduce global warming and to move ahead with a new
missile defense system. President Bush has also refused to ratify the
treaty creating an international criminal court and the U.S. Senate
refused to ratify the nuclear test ban treaty.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, asked about the U.S. ouster from
the Human Rights Commission, said Monday that "member states,
particularily those who have been very strongly supportive of the
international criminal court, have been disappointed by the U.S. not
coming on board."

The drug control board deals with aspects of legal and illegal drug
control, including monitoring government controls over chemicals used
in the illicit manufacture of drugs.

It also assists in preventing diversion of those chemicals into
illicit traffic and identifies weaknesses in drug control systems.