December 06, 2004

This scandal is like a boil that gets worse all the time and needs to be lanced, but will it be?
Events of last week seemed to make that eventuality a lot more likely.
It started with Norm Coleman's Committee investigatory findings as he stated them in Thursday's WSJ:
Kofi Annan Must Go

It's time for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to resign.

Over the past seven months, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which I chair, has conducted an exhaustive, bipartisan investigation into the scandal surrounding the U.N. Oil-for-Food program. That noble program was established by the U.N. to ease the suffering of the Iraqi people, then languishing under Saddam Hussein's ironfisted rule, as well as the economic sanctions imposed on Iraq by the U.N. after the first Gulf War. While sanctions were designed to instigate the removal of Saddam from power, or at least render him impotent, the Oil-for-Food program was designed to support the Iraqi people with food and other humanitarian aid under the watchful eye of the U.N.

Our Investigative Subcommittee has gathered overwhelming evidence that Saddam turned this program on its head. Rather than erode his grip on power, the program was manipulated by Saddam to line his own pockets and actually strengthen his position at the expense of the Iraqi people. At our hearing on Nov. 15, we presented evidence that Saddam accumulated more than $21 billion through abuses of the Oil-for-Food program and U.N. sanctions. We continue to amass evidence that he used the overt support of prominent members of the U.N., such as France and Russia, along with numerous foreign officials, companies and possibly even senior U.N. officials, to exploit the program to his advantage. We have obtained evidence that indicates that Saddam doled out lucrative oil allotments to foreign officials, sympathetic journalists
[I wonder who Norm's referring to here: it couldn't be journos like Dan Rather, who got that interview with Saddam or CNN (who admitted they lied about the sanctions to get access), inter alia, could it?!--Jen]
and even one senior U.N. official, in order to undermine international support for sanctions. In addition, we are gathering evidence that Saddam gave hundreds of thousands -- maybe even millions -- of Oil-for-Food dollars to terrorists and terrorist organizations. All of this occurred under the supposedly vigilant eye of the U.N.

While many questions concerning Oil-for-Food remain unanswered, one conclusion has become abundantly clear: Kofi Annan should resign. The decision to call for his resignation does not come easily, but I have arrived at this conclusion because the most extensive fraud in the history of the U.N. occurred on his watch. In addition, and perhaps more importantly, as long as Mr. Annan remains in charge, the world will never be able to learn the full extent of the bribes, kickbacks and under-the-table payments that took place under the U.N.'s collective nose.
[I think Sen. Coleman is quite right in this respect; Kofi will block any attempts internally to disclose the extent of the bribery and to "find" the documents that prove how much and to whom the bribes were paid.
We know this because he's been doing it for months, even though he started an internal investigation with the very competent Paul Volcker at its head.
This was window dressing for the media only.--J.T.]
[...]...The consequences of the U.N.'s ineptitude cannot be overstated: Saddam was empowered to withstand the sanctions regime, remain in power, and even rebuild his military. Needless to say, he made the Iraqi people suffer even more by importing substandard food and medicine under the Oil-for-Food program and pawning it off as first-rate humanitarian aid.

Since it was never likely that the U.N. Security Council, some of whose permanent members were awash in Saddam's favors, would ever call for Saddam's removal, the U.S. and its coalition partners were forced to put troops in harm's way to oust him by force. Today, money swindled from Oil-for-Food may be funding the insurgency against coalition troops in Iraq and other terrorist activities against U.S. interests. Simply put, the troops would probably not have been placed in such danger if the U.N. had done its job in administering sanctions and Oil-for-Food.
[I dunno about this point of Coleman's.
Saddam's determination to make war with his enemies and to make WMDs far exceeded the will of the U.N. to keep him in check and to fight for the rights of the people of Iraq.]
[...]
To make matters worse, the actions of Mr. Annan's own son have been called into question. Specifically, the U.N. recently admitted that Kojo Annan received more money than previously disclosed from a Swiss company named Cotecna, which was hired by the U.N. to monitor Iraq's imports under Oil-for-Food. Recently, there are growing, albeit unproven, allegations that Kofi Annan himself not only understands his son's role in this scandal -- but that he has been less than forthcoming in what he knew, and when he knew it.
[...]...Mr. Annan has named the esteemed Paul Volcker to investigate Oil-for-Food-related allegations, but the latter's team is severely hamstrung in its efforts. His panel has no authority to compel the production of documents or testimony from anyone outside the U.N. Nor does it possess the power to punish those who fabricate information, alter evidence or omit material facts. It must rely entirely on the goodwill of the very people and entities it is investigating. We must also recognize that Mr. Volcker's effort is wholly funded by the U.N., at Mr. Annan's control. Moreover, Mr. Volcker must issue his final report directly to the secretary general, who will then decide what, if anything, is released to the public.
[P.S. It's a recipe for disaster, non-disclosure and more coverup!--Jen]

Therefore, while I have faith in Mr. Volcker's integrity and abilities, it is clear the U.N. simply cannot root out its own corruption while Mr. Annan is in charge: To get to the bottom of the murk, it's clear that there needs to be a change at the top. In addition, a scandal of this magnitude requires a truly independent examination to ensure complete transparency, and to restore the credibility of the U.N. To that end, I reiterate our request for access to internal U.N. documents, and for access to U.N. personnel who were involved in the Oil-for-Food program.

I'm very afraid that this is not going to get the Senator and the rest of us where we want to go.
All of the U.N. diplos, including Kofi and probably his son, are going to claim diplomatic immunity--at least in the U.S.A.--as long as they're "doing U.N. business."
If these scalawags won't pay NYC parking tickets, why would they be accountable for untold millions in bribes from Saddam?
At the very least, Sen. Coleman's op ed does make the matter one of public record and interest and he's started the ball rolling--I hope!
The release of this report was followed by further developments on Friday.
To wit, President Bush called for a full investigation:

[...]
President George W. Bush called for a “full and open” accounting of Iraq’s now-defunct oil-for-food programme following accusations that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein illegally reaped billions of dollars from it because of Annan’s lack of oversight.

Only the day before, our U.N. Representative John Danforth resigned, after only 5 months' service, claiming he "wanted to spend more time with his wife."
Yet, he was less than supportive of Kofi Annan's continued leadership of the UN and also called for a thorough investigation of the Oil-for-Food program by somebody.
President Bush is a poker player (and a good one, too!) and he doesn't rush into anything, but if you ask me, his demand for answers, added to Danforth's resignation are the first signs of a possible U.S. "disengagement" from the U.N.
The President didn't take the more dramatic step of recalling our representative and he didn't say that our country wouldn't be paying their U.N. dues, which account for 22% of the whole U.N budget, but the implications are there.
If the scandal continues to draw out, it will be in large part because the MSMedia--who else?!?--will persist in NOT running with this story of the biggest scam in the history of the Civilized World.
IMHO, the best thing to do would be to put Kofi, his son, program director and known bribee Benon Sevan and Jacques Chirac on trial in Iraq for these crimes, because it was the Iraqi peoples' money and they were the ones who were harmed.
I don't think these boys will get any "diplomatic immunity" in Baghdad!
Saddam hasn't been tried yet, either, notice, so maybe he'd be willing to part with information for his role in this scandal in exchange for the Iraqi court giving him leniency (heh-heh! As if that's going to happen!).