Iran and the Status of Women

An important note from Richard Grenell , the former long-time spokesman for U.S. ambassadors at the United Nations:

U.S. mission staff have confirmed that [United States ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice] wasn’t at the U.N. and therefore wasn’t able to so much as drop by the committee-elections meeting that was taking place, because she wasn’t attending any formal U.N. meetings that day. Even after all the votes were counted and Iran was elected to four committee assignments, Rice didn’t speak out to highlight the hypocrisy of electing a country like Iran to a committee designed to promote women’s rights—because she wasn’t around.

For Rice, this silence is becoming a pattern. She is seldom in New York City and spends even less time at the U.N. Rice has not conducted the hard negotiations nor done the sometimes unpopular and messy work of engaging the U.N. or speaking up when others are silent. Rice has been routinely unavailable to reporters, absent from daily U.N. meetings, and all too often silent when the American people needed a strong voice to speak out on an important issue. From Iran to Zimbabwe to Sudan to Cuba, Rice consistently stays silent.

It’s no wonder other countries at the U.N. think the Obama administration is so easy to work with. And it also explains why we haven’t had one single Security Council resolution on Iran since Rice arrived . . . . The excuse that Rice is building relationships quietly or has a different type of style is lame. We don’t need to win popularity contests, we need action and votes and leadership. In Rice’s case, we just need her to start showing up for meetings and using her microphone. It’s time for Rice to step up and represent American interests at the U.N. or step aside and cede the role to someone who will show up for the fight.

The election of Iran to this committee is an outrage and a horror. What is going on at the UN? And if the United States isn’t going to stop it, who is?