Posted on 11/10/2004 4:55:47 PM PST by Mike Fieschko
Leaders of a United States Senate subcommittee investigating allegations of fraud in the oil-for-food program in Iraq have accused Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, of obstructing their inquiry.In a letter sent to Mr. Annan yesterday, the Republican chairman and ranking Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations charged that the secretary general and a panel he appointed to conduct an independent investigation into the charges of abuses appeared to be "affirmatively preventing" the Senate from getting documents from a former United Nations contractor that inspected goods bought by Iraq.
The senators also complained that Mr. Annan was blocking access to 55 internal audit reports of the program and other relevant documents and refusing to permit United Nations officials to be interviewed by the subcommittee's investigators.
The United Nations-administered program, which ran from 1996 to 2003, allowed Iraq to sell oil to buy food and other essential supplies for Iraqis hurt by economic sanctions.
The senators said it had taken four months for Mr. Annan to reply to the subcommittee's requests, and when he finally did, he refused to cooperate with the Senate inquiry.
"We are concerned that the U.N.'s nondisclosure policy is being used as both a sword and a shield," the senators wrote, "sharing such 'internal records' when it favors the U.N., but then declining to do so when such disclosure could have negative implications."
The blunt letter is signed by the subcommittee's chairman, Senator Norm Coleman, Republican of Minnesota, and Senator Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan.
Edward Mortimer, director of communications in the secretary general's office, said United Nations officials would "carefully look into what is clearly a very awkward and troubling letter."
He said he would also consult with Paul A. Volcker, who heads the United Nations-appointed investigation panel. Mr. Mortimer emphasized that Mr. Annan had instructed all United Nations staff to cooperate with Mr. Volcker's panel, known as the Independent Inquiry Committee.
Neither Mr. Volcker nor members of his staff, who have had a tense relationship with several House and Senate committees investigating the program, could be reached for comment last night.
The subcommittee also announced yesterday that on Monday it would hold the first of several hearings into allegations of widespread corruption in the $64 billion program. Among the first witnesses scheduled is Charles A. Duelfer, the chief American adviser on Iraq's unconventional weapons programs. Mr. Duelfer, the head of the Iraq Survey Group, recently published a lengthy report on Iraqi weapons programs that documented Saddam Hussein's use of the program not to buy civilian supplies as intended, but to generate billions of dollars in illicit money, undermine sanctions and buy conventional arms.
In their letter to Mr. Annan, the senators cited the United Nations' refusal to permit Lloyd's Register, which the United Nations had hired to inspect Iraq's purchases, to provide documents to the Senate investigators.
In an Aug. 31 letter, the director of the United Nations' legal affairs office told Lloyd's that while Lloyd's should cooperate fully with Mr. Volcker's panel, "under no circumstances" was it authorized to provide documents to the subcommittee.
The letter also asks Mr. Annan to permit the Senate investigators to interview 11 senior United Nations officials, including Benon V. Sevan, who headed the program. Mr. Duelfer's report said Mr. Sevan might have received oil allocations from Saddam Hussein. Mr. Sevan has denied any impropriety.
Lets hold up our UN funds and see how fast the come up with the docs.
We should leave the UN, its fundamentally UNAMERICAN institution.
I'm not surprised at Annan's attempts to block the investigation. I am disappointed in Volcker.
I am surprised at Levin signing the letter and I am thrilled (but not surprised, since I knew they'd be held eventually) to learn about the hearings being scheduled.
If I may say so,Coffee Anan has little real power.He is mired by baseless accusations of corruption-the Democrats are in charge now -in my opinion....
I wonder if there is any chance GW will have a little "chat"
with Volcker?
No. The ruling is being appealed.
Not one more penny until they fully comply.
Scandal ping (and a shocker on who signed a letter).
That hand holding looks a little too intimate for my homophobic eyes.
Bump. There were people on the Charlie Rose show discussing this a couple of months ago. Unfortunately, I woke up and dozed off. These were not Republican politicians discussing it. They were people (probably liberals)that worked on behalf of the U.N. They seemed very nervous and very upset about the whole thing.
There is one quick way to get results from the UN. Cut of the $$. The bastards are useless without US $$.
Levin signed the letter, and The New York Times actually reported on it. If this had happened a week ago, they never would have run this story.
I'll be curious what page they put this article on. But I believe Judith Miller is one of their few honest reporters.
Interestingly, she has been blamed by the leftists for supporting both Iraq wars. Do a Google search on her and you'll turn up a whole slew of attacks on her by the usual suspects, such as Alexander Cockburn.
It looks as if pigs are flying today, all right.
The zipper-heads in the blue states often confuse the United Nations with the United Federation of Planets from Star Trek. They can't tell the difference.
And they call red staters' dumb.
Bill Clinton has be gunning for that job since before his re-election
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