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Posted on 09/05/2001 8:48:14 AM PDT by SAMWolf

If anyone needed proof that Secretary of State of State Colin Powell was right to stay away from the U.N. conference on racism, there was, alas, the conference itself. With the whole world watching and a chance to prove Powell and the United States wrong, the World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa surrendered to hatred and intolerance.

Its own.

Never mind the anonymous anti-Semitic cartoons and literature that (dis)graced the meeting grounds. The hatred and intolerance could be glimpsed in a draft conference resolution that included more than two dozen paragraphs accusing Israel of "racist practices" against Palestinians -- and the failure to reach any "compromise" on the anti-Israel language. It could also be seen in the declaration issued by so-called nongovernmental organizations at a parallel gathering. The declaration urged nations to isolate Israel and set up a war-crimes tribunal for Israeli actions in the Middle East.

The conference degenerated into what one reporter called a "carnival of grievances," and when it became clear that the Arabic and Islamic nations were more interested in hating Israel than addressing world-wide racism, the United States ended even its low-level participation in this global travesty.

This was U.S. leadership of the most honorable sort and prudent disengagement -- that is, disengagement when the United States is being asked to engage in an unsavory international slugfest. As Powell said in calling home the U.S. delegation, "I know we do not combat racism by conferences that produce declarations of hateful language."

Sometimes, honor means absence.

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