That doesn't make any sense. What reason(s) did they give???

Politics...arghhhh! There may not be an answer to this.

I honestly believe the world is starting to change, and people that cry racism are being taken less seriously, the world is changing focus to the "character of the person" more and more each day. Boycott a UN conference which will involve known racists groups, indeed we do not want to support a message of hate.

It's not a democracy; it's a land of hypocrisy!!

Nothing is ever so black and white, so to speak. The position of the US was that the conference, like the 2001 conference, would single out Israel and attempt to equate Zionism with racism. There is another level as well, where leaders of Islamic states have been pushing for a resolution that would equate criticism of religion as a violation of human rights, which most western countries could not ideologically support.

Because, quite frankly, the UN conference is a bit of a farce. It has a particular agenda, no matter what it wants to call itself, and it's not battling racism. The UN has lost any credence that it once had. This was a good decision by the Obama administration. (from abc news) Protesting what their leaders see as anti-Semitic and anti-Israel overtones to the conference, Australia, Canada, Israel, Italy and Sweden are also not sending delegations. Acting U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood Saturday issued a statement saying that the 2009 Durban Review Conference draft outcome document "still contains language that reaffirms in toto the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA) from 2001, which the United States has long said it is unable to support" because it "singles out one particular conflict and prejudges key issues that can only be resolved in negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians." "Its inclusion in the review conference document has the same effect as inserting that original text into the current document and re-adopting it," Wood said. In addition, he added that the United States "also has serious concerns with relatively new additions to the text regarding 'incitement,' that run counter to the U.S. commitment to unfettered free speech." Earlier drafts of the document expressed disapproval of any "defamation of religion." Wood said: "Therefore, with regret, the United States will not join the review conference."

There is fear it may end up becoming a racist freakshow with Islamic states denying the Holocaust and pretty much turning it into an Islam versus Zionism conference.

The US is boycotting for reasons listed/pasted below: Robert Wood of the US State Department, "[The document that is at the heart of the conference] still contains language that reaffirms in toto the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA) from 2001, which the United States has long said it is unable to support" because it "singles out one particular conflict and prejudges key issues that can only be resolved in negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians."

Because it is an anti-Isreal conference.