Nobody ever said the U.N. doesn't do good work in health and development assistance. If that was all people relied on it for, things would be great.

The U.N. sucks doorknobs when it comes to anything remotely resembling keeping the peace or dealing with aggression and tyranny. They're raping kids in Africa, and standing around street corners in Lebanon while Hezbollah turns southern Lebanon into an armed fortress.

Much noise is made in the U.S. about how the "poor and disadvantaged" take the brunt of military action for the U.S., something the real numbers don't back up.

On the other hand, the U.N. gets most of its troops from the poorer nations. Last time I looked, ratios between poor nations and Security Council members for troops provided were running about 30 to 1. The job pays around $1,000 per soldier per month, which is big money in most of the world.

A U.N. casualty from Canada or France makes the news. A hundred or so from Ghana, not so much.