“ÔøΩÔøΩ Inside the United Nations, there is no difference between a dictatorship or a democracy: Each gets exactly one vote in the General Assembly. The reason the UN indulges vicious regimes like those in North Korea, Syria, and Cuba is that they are members in good standing, and most other governments lack the courage to cross them. The UN cannot be fixed unless that changes — and that isn’t going to change.”

Indeed. This is the crux of the problem with “reform” of the UN. While complete financial transparency is necessary, it is not sufficient. I think the best we can hope for is the withdrawl of the US (and all US funding, of course) and starting from scratch with just democracies.

“What strikes me as strnage is the number of people who are willing to not only back Annan but call this a conspiracy designed to sully the reputations of good people.”

$23 billion is alot of cash and my guess is that there are many more people who are dirty that you may think. Part of Saddam’s strategy to stay in power and enrich hinself was to compromise as many people around him. Illicit gains is one tried and true tactic. The French, Russians, Chinese, Annan’s son, and many others will be tainted by the Oil-for-Food scandal before this is over. Kofi and the other major participants will never admit to what has happended because it would make them among the biggest, if not the biggest, crooks of all time. (If Kofi did not take money himself, then is is one of the worst managers ever.) If you were at risk because sunlight may be cast upon the Oil-for-Food program, you would probably endorse Kofi and hope the whole thing blows over because to many people has too much to lose.

In addition, graft is part of the culture in many places. I think that there are some who don’t know what the big fuss is all about. It was just business as usual despite the fact that this is most likely the biggest fraud of all time.

Roger is right on-the-money (pun intended). Financial transparency is one of the reforms required if the UN expects to be rehabilitated.

I absolutely agree with you regarding US financial support for the UN. The US should immediately cease all monetary support for the UN and make it as difficult for the UN as possible until we get the transparency we need on both what happened and what reforms need to be made going forward. The Sarbanes Oxley legislation should be applied to the UN. It is our tax dollars that are being sent to support this corruption.

Where ever there is power there is conspiracy and a vast organisation like the UN will be seething with intrigue,add the ingredient money and who knows what was going on?

The offence could be either commission or omission but with $23,000,000,000 going begging it is a certainty that somebody took a bribe to fabricate evidence,look the other way or lie.

Saddam Hussein is first and foremost a gangster, compare him with the Mafia and the political,judicial,union and media influence they bought.In his position what would anybody do?

It is impossible that the Oil For Food scam was simply about the money,large sums of money have a dynamic all of there own,things happen around them,look at the average salary of even the highest paid UN official and imagine what $10 million in a Swiss bank account would do.How much more could be bought for $23,000,000,000?

What price even the highest paid MSM journalist?

Maybe I am just paranoid but I have wondered if the UN, or at least elements in it, helped Saddam move weapons and also helped feed the idea of weapons still being in Iraq. After all if it had been evident years ago that the weapons programs had been dealt with in the 90′s there would not have been a gravy train to jump on. We know Saddam got caught lying in 94, after that who knows what happened that nobody caught?

That is what I meant about the weapons, that mystery is part of this scandal, I think. And it all lends a surreal quality to the whole mess.

The Coalition of the Wailing is going to make this about anyone who puts their head above the parapet,it is their default position.

I agree there doesn’t even be an acknowledgement of the issue.

The money was the WMD,with resources like that Saddam Hussein could buy off the shelf from Dr Kahn and North Korea and be armed with nuclear missiles without a development programme and the additional costs.No doubt that other countries would do cash on delivery and no questions asked.

Iraq is still awash with funds that is used by the so called insurgents,money has always been the mainspring of war.

I agree with Roger that the first and most important step is complete financial transparency. That might happen if the US agrees to withdraw all financial support until reforms are enacted.

The best part is, not only does the US not like the UN, but in most areas of the world where they claim to be helping they are seen as something of a pathetic joke. The primary supporters of the UN are those benefitting from the various scandals and the dictators who use it to justify their continued existence.

The US should not want an aggressive counterweight to its own foreign policy.

Bill Kristol commented this morning that the state of electoral events in Ukraine and Iraq underscore the UN’s presence is not needed. The influence of other nations, working together, quite apart from the UN, are achieving elections and electoral reform despite it and its bloated unwieldy procedures.

I know what you mean. I think Kondracke just thinks that the opposition is going to make this about Coleman rather than the scandal. Needless to say they are going to do whatever they have to in order to avoid the truth.

This is what is so annoying to me. It is not just a matter of a difference of opinion, it is a matter of getting the other guy to acknowledge reality. So far they have not. Whether it is the War on Terror or Saddam’s reign of terror or the food for oil theft they do not even see the same reality we do.

The whole missing wmd did not do anything to help the situation.

“I watched the Beltway Boys last night and Mort Kondracke said Norm Coleman made a mistake calling for Annan’s resignation now. Kondracke does think the scandal is real but he seems to think the US needs to let the evidence speak for itself and see where that leads to rather than going after Annan upfront.”

I second PeterUK’s senitments.

Claudia Rosset has been on the point to expose the UNSCUM scandal. She’s been mightly lonely out there, too. If this sort of situation involved a corporation or any conservative or republican political entity, the MSM would be beaming in play-by-play coverage to us as we slept via mind rays. If you just took known facts as they exist now and tossed them in a hat and pulled them out one after another you would have the outline for a “Godfather/The Firm/Odessa File” movie too explosive to be believed. The sticking point for media comes when it is incontrevertible that the villain at the heart of the plot is the utopic icon of liberal worldview, the U.N.

OFF isn’t an abberation. It’s business at usual for that club of thugs. The numbers are just too big to cover, even behind the wall of MSM.