News & Politics - Corruption at the U.N.

mh67511 · 11-15-2004, 07:25 PM

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The Senate vs. the U.N.
November 15, 2004
BY ROBERT NOVAK SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

'The extent of the corruption is staggering,'' Sen. Norm Coleman told me. He is a freshman Republican from Minnesota completing his second year in Washington, and he was talking about the United Nations and its pious secretary-general, Kofi Annan. Coleman's comments are not the mere musings of an insignificant rookie senator, but the considered judgment of a committee chairman whose careful investigation reached the hearing stage today.

After winning his seat against former Vice President Walter F. Mondale in 2002, Coleman was rewarded with the chairmanship of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. He is conducting what could be the most explosive congressional investigation in years, probing the U.N.'s fraudulent oil-for-food program in Iraq and Annan's obstruction of the senatorial inquiry.

Coleman said this week's hearings will show that ''the scope of the ripoff'' at the U.N. is substantially more than the widely reported $10 billion to $11 billion in graft. But more than money is involved. These hearings also should expose the arrogance of the secretary-general and his bureaucracy. At the same time that he has refused to honor the Senate committee's request for documents, Annan has inveighed against the Fallujah offensive sanctioned by the new Iraqi government while ignoring the terrorism of insurgents. This is an unprecedented showdown between a branch of the U.S. government and the U.N.

The scandal is not complicated. Money from Iraqi oil sales permitted by the Saddam Hussein regime under U.N. auspices, supposedly to provide food for Iraqis, was siphoned off to middlemen. Billions intended to purchase food wound up in Saddam's hands for the purpose of buying conventional weapons. The complicity of U.N. member states France and Russia is pointed to by the Senate investigation. The web of corruption deepened when it was revealed that Annan's son, Kojo, was on the payroll of a contractor in the oil-for-food program.

As the pressure built on Annan, on April 16 he named former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker to conduct an ''independent'' investigation. This has been construed on Capitol Hill as a ploy to stave off any serious congressional inquiry. Nobody questions Volcker's integrity, but his political skills have always been suspect. His Independent Inquiry Committee, off to a slow start because of inadequate funding, in the absence of subpoena powers looks like a sham.

Coleman is not pursuing a right-wing vendetta against the world organization. He was a born and bred liberal Democrat from Brooklyn before the claustrophobic liberalism of Minnesota's Democratic Farmer Labor Party compelled him to become a Republican in 1996 as the elected Democratic mayor of St. Paul. He had no anti-U.N. mind-set when he embarked on his investigation.

Coleman has been joined in rare bipartisan cooperation by the subcommittee's fiercely liberal ranking Democrat, Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan. Coleman sent Levin a draft of a tough letter to Annan, and Levin signed it. The bipartisan letter demanded access to U.N. internal audits and key U.N. personnel. It also accused the Volcker committee of ''affirmatively preventing the subcommittee'' from investigating the scandal. A major point of dispute is the U.N.'s flat refusal to permit Lloyd's Register, hired by the U.N. to inspect Iraq's oil-for-food transactions, to provide any documents to the Senate.

The reaction by the U.N. bureaucracy has been an intransigent defense of its stone wall. Edward Mortimer, Annan's director of communications, publicly sneered at the Coleman-Levin letter as ''very awkward and troubling.'' Privately, Annan's aides told reporters that they were not about to hand over confidential documents to the Russian Duma and every other parliamentary body in the world.

But the U.S. Senate is not the Russian Duma. These are not just a few right-wing voices in the wilderness who are confronting Kofi Annan. ''In seeing what is happening at the U.N.,'' Coleman told me, ''I am more troubled today than ever. I see a sinkhole of corruption.'' The United Nations and its secretary-general are in a world of trouble.

**TheAngel** · 11-15-2004, 10:12 PM

And you are surprised that there is corruption in politics? What else is to be expected. Join people together and they begin working for themselves, it happens everywhere and nothing's going to change it.

mh67511 · 11-17-2004, 10:09 PM

Oh I'm not surprised. But I am surprised that some people have acted like the U.N. is this wonderful organization and that the United States should always report to them.

SuperDeluxe · 11-17-2004, 10:23 PM

I just heard about this..21 billion from the oil for food program?

and like 17 billion under Kofi Annan's watch.

And people want the UN to run shiate.

Talk about corrupt.

Leave it to the liberal media to bury this on page 15. But Abu Gharib is front page news for weeks.

SuperDeluxe · 11-17-2004, 11:07 PM

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A private intelligence firm hired by the United Nations to look into corruption in the oil-for-food program provided valuable leads to U.N. investigators, but they were ignored, the company's director says.

http://washingtontimes.com/national/...0708-9030r.htm

This thing gets more and more ugly for the UN>

**TheAngel** · 11-17-2004, 11:56 PM

No, the UN is God among political orginizations. We should follow behind them like subservient dogs. They are capable of doing no wrong and we are the crass and immoral nation going against their all-knowing and all-seeing policies. We shall burn in hell for this mortal sin....alright, enough sarcasm for one post.

No1important · 11-22-2004, 10:34 PM

Its only corrupt when it disagrees with the American Agenda. If the UN would of backed the invasion of Iraq this issue would never of been brought up.

**TheAngel** · 11-22-2004, 10:53 PM

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Originally posted by No1important
Its only corrupt when it disagrees with the American Agenda. If the UN would of backed the invasion of Iraq this issue would never of been brought up.

That's a biased and opinionated statement. You have no proof therefore this has no relevance to the argument.

WalkingOnSunshine · 11-23-2004, 02:02 PM

The UN needs some major restructuring to be considered worthwhile again. So much has been swept under the war because of the Iraq war. The UN needs to step up to the bat on this and face the problems head on. It cannot get much worse.

**TheAngel** · 11-23-2004, 07:45 PM

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Originally posted by WalkingOnSunshine
The UN needs some major restructuring to be considered worthwhile again. So much has been swept under the war because of the Iraq war. The UN needs to step up to the bat on this and face the problems head on. It cannot get much worse.

Another problem are the alliances forming within the UN. You also have members of other organizations, the African Union for example, that focus souly on that organizations adgenda and not really forcusing on their own people.

SuperDeluxe · 11-23-2004, 09:43 PM

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Originally posted by No1important
Its only corrupt when it disagrees with the American Agenda. If the UN would of backed the invasion of Iraq this issue would never of been brought up.

Corruption is Corruption. If the US govt did something corrupt you could bet people all over this board would be harping on it.

It goes both ways.

**sum1** · 11-25-2004, 07:52 PM

The UN is bigoted, hypocritical and vastly overrated. It's also pretty much useless. Imagine what they'd do about Hitler -send a few weapons inspectors to take a look at his concentration camps. "Oh, nothing important going on here, let's toddle along, no reason to do anything about this guy." The US shouldn't let the UN push them around. And I find myself wondering if it's not about time the UN was abolished -along with some other bigoted hypocritical organizations, like the EU.

No1important · 11-27-2004, 01:01 AM

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Originally posted by TheAngel
That's a biased and opinionated statement. You have no proof therefore this has no relevance to the argument.

Right.............only when the US does not get its way they whine and bitch. Did the US ever pay the money they owe the UN.

The US should back the UN not create its own world order. Its only time before the rest of the world views the US as a rogue religious fanatical nation and treats it like such. American governments are the main problem in the world today. They refuse to get along or work with any other nation or body like the UN unless it suits them. We all should work together to better improve life we all share on this planet. Instead of illegal invasions. Both Iraq and Afghanastan will drag on forever like Vietnam. Saudia arabia is the terrorist problem but George W won't straighten them out as they are his "oil friends" The American Government just does not get it.

America gets their extra oil they need from Canada not Saudi Arabia and very few Americans realize this. The Saudi oil has too much Sulpher.

America gets all its extra power from Canada and 95% of natural gas. Yet they still treat us like crap. Some friends they are. We should cut the oil, gas and power off. We should stop exporting to America and start selling our resources to China. They appreciate us unlike America. And to prevent the immenent invasion from America after we shut everything off we could get Chinese troops to help guard our border to prevent America from invading.

If America keeps pissing the world off they will be all alone.

But not to worry in 50 or 60 years China will be the world Power. America is where Britain was 100 years ago.

Until then AMERICA mind your own business and stop meddling in other countries affairs.And stop your over protectionist policies. Nafta is a joke as we always win appeals but America never abides as they never abide with the world court.

SuperDeluxe · 11-27-2004, 01:09 AM

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Originally posted by No1important

The US should back the UN not create its own world order..

Right. the UN a giant toothless political body.

No1important · 11-27-2004, 01:11 AM

Its only a toothless body because America does not want to back it. The only super power or country that really doesn't. America will not work with the world unless it suits them and that is so sad.


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