Who is Mary Robinson?

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk


If you don't know who Mary Robinson is, you should. This lady is a former president of Ireland (a ceremonial post-1990-1997) who was appointed by former UN Secretary General, the corrupt Kofi Annan, to be commissioner of the UN Office of the High Commission on Human Rights (1997-2002). Robinson is a critic of Israel and also the US-especially its military actions in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan. Once, when asked if George W Bush should be prosecuted for war crimes, she opined that the matter was "premature" and should be studied by an independent body.

As UN high commissioner, Robinson oversaw the Durban Conference on Racism in 2001, which concentrated its fire on the state of Israel. Last year, President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom.One thing must be pointed out in fairness to Robinson. During a meeting at Durban, someone handed her a cartoon book full of anti-Semitic images which was being handed out to attendees at the registration table. When she saw it, she stood up and protested, declaring (rhetorically), "I am a Jew."

Yet, the entire conference that she ruled over was nothing but an exercise in bashing Israel, yet another in a long line of UN embarrassments. In my view, that conference should have been brought to an abrupt end by Robinson as soon as she saw that cartoon book.

So now (last year), our president awards this woman a medal. Doesn't that speak volumes about where his ideology lies?

So what ever became of Robinson? I'll give you one guess.

That's right. In 2004, she was given a teaching position at Columbia University, where she has lived happily ever after.