Even as the elite media and other Bush- bashers fruitlessly scour musty memos for hints of White House culpability in the 9/11 attacks, more incriminating details are coming to light on the multibillion-dollar corruption of the United Nation's Iraq Oil-for-Food program - the biggest scandal in the world body's history. And hardly anybody's paying any attention - a shame, because the U.N. and its backers are pushing for a major role in the administration of post-war Iraq.
I love the NY Post... it never beats around the bush.
I'm sure there are sane alternatives out there... but not one that has a snowball's chance in Hell of winning in 2004.
POLITICS:
Iraq Oil-for-Food Programme Blame Game Heats Up
Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 12 (IPS) - The U.N. Secretariat, accused of nepotism and corruption in overseeing Iraq's multi-billion-dollar, oil-for-food programme, is expected to name an independent commission this week to investigate the widespread charges of abuse.
Critics say the world body's credibility rests on the outcome of the probe, but other observers argue it is the reputations of the ”big five” of the U.N. Security Council that are at stake since they were responsible for overseeing the programme.
U.N. Associate Spokeswoman Marie Okabe told reporters Monday the delay in naming the panel was caused by Secretary-General Kofi Annan's careful search for ''the highest calibre of persons'' to serve on the commission.
The charges of corruption first surfaced several months ago in a Baghdad newspaper that published the names of businessmen, political leaders, heads of state and even a U.N. official who were apparently privy to kickbacks received by the former government of President Saddam Hussein.
The 'New York Times' and the 'Wall Street Journal', which have relentlessly pursued the story, have singled out U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Benon Sevan for criticism.
Sevan, who was the last U.N. official to head the programme, has denied the accusation in the Iraqi newspaper that he received either ''oil or oil monies from the former Iraqi regime''.
According to the Times, nearly three-quarters of the suppliers of food and medicine to Iraq jacked up their prices to pay the 10 percent kickbacks to Iraqi oil exporters -- while U.N. officials turned a blind eye.
These suppliers included contractors from the Middle East, Europe and, more importantly, from countries that comprise the five permanent (P-5) members of the U.N. Security Council -- the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia.
Economic sanctions were imposed on Iraq immediately after its invasion of Kuwait in August 1990.
But the hardships it caused average Iraqis forced the United Nations to create a programme in 1996 under which oil revenues were used to provide much needed food, medicine and humanitarian supplies to the country.
The programme was monitored and supervised by a committee of the 15-member Security Council known as the United Nations-Iraq Sanctions Committee.
Since the programme was under the supervision of the P-5, some U.N. officials say blame should also fall on the Security Council for failing to prevent or expose the kickbacks, if any.
Others caution that none of the accusations have been proven, to date.
''It can take no one by surprise if a 60-billion-dollar venture has not escaped the scars of inefficiency, misuse and even graft,'' says Hans Von Sponeck of Germany, a former assistant secretary-general and U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Iraq.
Von Sponeck, who managed the distribution of goods under the oil-for-food programme during 1998-2000, said the proposed panel should be able to shed light on the extent to which this was the case, ''if indeed it was''.
Until then, he told IPS, ''responsible journalism should refrain from passing judgment''.
The General Accounting Office (GAO), a watchdog body of the U.S. Congress, has estimated the Hussein regime succeeded in ''skimming'' some 4.4 billion dollars from transactions involving both sales and purchases. An additional 5.7 billion dollars worth of oil was smuggled from Iraq outside the oil-for-food programme, it alleged.
The U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) in Baghdad has also announced plans to launch its own investigations into the programme.
''I know there is a lot being dumped on the U.N. Secretariat, which is not fair,'' Annan told reporters last month. ''I am not saying that the Secretariat may not have made some mistakes, but I think there are lots of issues, and the panel that we put together should be able to clarify”.
Annan has said the investigation cannot succeed without the active cooperation, not only of members of the Security Council but of all U.N. member states, particularly those that had business dealings with Iraq.
The secretary-general has also responded to the charge that one of the companies benefiting under the programme had employed his son, Kojo.
Although he admitted that his son worked for the Swiss company, Annan said he had nothing to do with the contracts committee that was responsible for awarding Iraqi contracts.
The Times and the 'Wall Street Journal' have said the ''scandal'' has challenged the ''credibility'' of the United Nations, and made a mockery of its attempts to preach ''good governance'' and ''transparency'' to developing nations.
Speaking before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week, Republican Senator Richard Lugar said the alleged corruption was not solely of Hussein's doings.
''He required members of the United Nations Security Council who were willing to be complicit in his activities, and he required U.N. officials and contractors who were dishonest, inattentive or were willing to make damaging compromises in pursuit of a compassionate mission,'' he said.
''The damage to U.N. credibility from corruption in the oil-for-food programme is harmful to U.S. foreign policy and to efforts aimed at coordinating a stronger global response to terrorism'', Lugar added.
Democratic Sen Joe Biden told the panel he welcomed Annan's decision to call the inquiry. ''It's critically important for the integrity and efficiency of the United Nations that we get to the bottom of the story''.
But Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies, who monitors day-to-day political developments in the world body, told IPS that U.N. ''credibility'' is certainly not at risk.
''It's the members of the Security Council, most significantly the United States and its allies, who were responsible for approving all contracts in the oil-for-food programme,'' she pointed out.
''This is one more in a long series of efforts by Washington to divert responsibility for its own failures to blame the United Nations instead,'' Bennis said.
Von Sponeck said Annan made a wise decision in calling the commission. ''I am sure he will equally wisely select persons of known integrity and political neutrality.''
''We must remember that the oil-for-food programme has been the largest humanitarian programme ever carried out by the United Nations,'' he added.
''Thousands of dedicated international and Iraqi U.N. staff have done their best during the six years of the programme's existence to bring some relief to the Iraqi civilian population living under a dictatorship and economic sanctions.” (END/2004)
http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=23272
The UN investigators will naturally be completely incompetent. After all, they are appointed by someone who is personally implicated and stands to lose enormously if they find the goods on him. How long a charade they will have to carry on is the only question.
The reason there is no international uproar over this matter is that most nations expect these sorts of practices to occur. They do not want to end such exploitation. They want to get in on it. Right now they think the U.S. is monopolizing the exploitation of Iraq as that is what they would do if given the opportunity.
They have no concept that the U.S. citizens finds such exploitation intolerable and won't tolerate their government sponsoring or allowing such exploitation to flourish under its aegis.
Partisan media coming to defend the UN.
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UN in Major Missions Across the Globe
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Somebody in France must be getting nervous. Seems the UN must of hired a PR firm. Too bad they don't realize that the average American loaths in the UN for it's actions over the last 25 years.
A day or two ago when this Oil for Food topic with the U.N. Scandal was discussed. I mentioned that some screaming and raising hell needed to be done about this. You replied with a Bump, which I probably should understand by now, but I'm not 100% sure. Although I must say that you have once again brought this U.N. Oil for Food Scandal to the forefront, and done a great job of screaming to bring and keep attention on it. Thanks for the great work. Please let me know if there's more I can help you with. The U.N. must clean its own house before we can trust turning any more major government operations over to it to run. Thanks for taking the ball and running with this project.