Rudy to the U.N.

Confirmation hearings began yesterday on John Negroponte’s nomination to be ambassador to Iraq. As the U.S. official responsible for shepherding diplomatic negotiations in the United Nations during the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq, Mr. Negroponte demonstrated that he is well-suited for the challenges at what will be America’s largest embassy. His appointment to the Baghdad mission leaves open his current ambassadorship to the United Nations. One exciting possibility for this important post is Rudolph Giuliani, the former mayor of New York.

The New York Post and the Wall Street Journal have pushed the cause already. “Apart from the president himself,” James Taranto wrote in OpinionJournal.com, “it’s hard to think of any more powerful spokesman and symbol for America’s war on terror than Rudy Giuliani, and not only because of his inspired mayoral leadership after Sept. 11.” His experience as a tough federal prosecutor would better enable the United States to get to the bottom of the corrupt U.N. oil-for-food trade-off, which might explain why France and Russia, for two examples, so adamantly fought U.S. resolutions at the United Nations to approve force against Saddam Hussein.

The multibillion-dollar oil-for-food rip-off could turn U.N. headquarters in New York upside down. According to ABC News, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s son held an important position in one of the companies involved in the program, and at least three other senior U.N. officials are implicated in efforts to scam money intended for Iraq’s suffering population. This is just the kind of crime Mr. Giuliani is trained to unravel. His willingness to joust with U.N. bureaucrats is legendary. U.N. bureaucrats still complain about the mayor dispatching security to eject Yasser Arafat from a Lincoln Center event a decade ago.

In an address to the U.N. General Assembly shortly after the September 11 attacks on his city, Mayor Giuliani said: “Our freedom threatens [terrorists] because they know that if our ideas of freedom gain a foothold among their people, it will destroy their power … The United Nations must hold accountable any country that supports or condones terrorism.” To this day, U.N. resolve against terror is unimpressive. As ambassador to that body, Mr. Giuliani would shake things up, and all for the better.

Since term limits prevented his re-election in 2002, Mr. Giuliani has been one of the most sought-after speakers on the lecture circuit, which provides a comfortable life. But he is a man with a calling to public service. After almost three decades as a crimefighter, the war on terror provides yet another opportunity to serve his country — at the United Nations.