The escalating scandal surrounding the Volcker Comittee’s second interim report went international this morning with this article from Le Figaro, which references everybody’s favorite Choderlos de Laclos novel in one of its subheads (see my title).
Accompanying the article was this photo (below) of the two sources of RogerLSimon.com’s special reports 1, 2 and 3 – Franco-Lebanese businessman Pierre Mouselli (left) and his attorney Adrian Gonzalez-Maltes.
Coming tomorrow morning will be a cover story on the scandal from the Sunday London Times by Robert Winnett which is said to be highly critical of the committee and of Kofi Annan, possibly a bombshell.
UPDATE: Here’s Claudia Rosett on the “farce” of the media and Annan himself declaring the SG “exonerated” when the Volcker investigation has barely begun (or should have barely begun).
And here’s Austin Bay coining the apt new term “ego-crat.” [Don't you go stealing that one.-ed. Moi?]
And this is interesting… from Deborah Orin’s column in the New York Post:
Vice President Dick Cheney yesterday gave U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan the big chill, declining to express any desire to have him stay on the job after the oil-for-food scandal.
Asked if Annan should remain, Cheney finessed the question and replied, “Our views haven’t changed any with respect to Kofi Annan.”
And what are those views?
“They haven’t changed a bit,” Cheney repeated with a smile as he passed up the invitation to voice confidence in the embattled U.N. chief just days after a critical report from prober Paul Volcker.
They seem to be letting Kofi twist in the wind. Cheney doing “The Twist”? Now there’s a thought.
MORE: Here is the Times story. Although it substantially repeats what has appeared on here, there are no new “bombshells.”
Very nice work on this, Roger. Somebody has expressed the opinion that Claudia Rosett deserves six Pulitzers for her work on this. If so (and I’m not disagreeing), you deserve at least one.
Really nice work on this Roger. Congrats. Besides being an ego-crat, Kofi is conducting his affairs in a “metro-doofus” manner. That should result in his departure once the “alternative” is properly constructed and running.
Kofi’s “UNelegance and ineptitude” should result in his supporters spending more political capital to shore him up than he is worth. They will not be able to stop as their departure will signal his downfall. It looks like a suicide-squeeze play to me. In the end, his marginalized utilization will be such that his supporters will tell him to go otherwise they will have no roll to play in the alternative. I think we are killing two birds with one stone.
Gotta love Cheney’s comments on Kofi. Keep up the great work on this story, Roger.
This whole thing is like a box inside a box inside a box.
I have noticed how quiet the no blood for oil crowd has been about this. Now if Kofi was an American…..
I understand that Dick Cheney is working behind the scenes to make Mike Schiavo the guardian and heir of Kofi Annan. This thing has really gotten out of hand!
” have noticed how quiet the no blood for oil crowd has been about this. Now if Kofi was an American…..”
Posted by: Terrye
Terrye,
I think you meant if Kofi were an American Republican.
BurbankErnie,
The crack NYT six degrees of separation team is already working on a revised biography of Kofi that traces his long time association with people who are at least second cousins to people who know various Haliburton executives.
Meanwhile, Dan Rather is researching the veracity of a copy of Kojo’s baptismal record showing Richard Nixon and James Dobson as godparents. Apparently he’s having some difficulty finding experts to verify authenticity because Crayola didn’t produce the color used until well after the date on the certificate.
Don’t worry, the truth will out.
Courage!
Rick ó And if they can’t verify, they’ll just run it on ABC…
Roger,
This is absolutely outstanding work. Thank you.
This fellow Louis is a friend of yours?
Reading Louis’ critical comments on the Austin Bay site, I laughed at the silliness of his comment “has not this oil for food scandal been going between going long enough?” argument.
He has no sense of the timeline of this scandal and that the raw ugly facts are just coming to light.
Mr. Simon
Most interesting this is in a French publication.
When Saddam’s oil barrel list was released did the French media investigate the French contacts? I remember silence.
Could that change?
When Richard Nixon resigned in the wake of Watergate, someone, I can’t recall who, wrote words to this effect: “Nothing so became his Presidency as his leaving of it.” When the time comes, that statement can be amended to fit Kofi Annan’s term as Secretary General.
“Le scandale È£¨ate au mois de janvier 2005 avec la publication par un journal irakien d’une liste comportant les noms d’une centaine de sociÈ¥©s È¥≤angË≤•s et de particuliers soupÁØÆnÈ≥†d’avoir profitȆ§es largesses de Saddam Hussein et des milliards de l’or noir.”
But an Iraqi newspaper released the list one year before, in January 2004. Charles Pascua was on the list of Frenchmen who received oil coupons.
Imagine if a friend of George Bush was on the list. We would have had 15 months of commentator theorizing and outrage.
Charles Pascua is a pal of M. Chirac.
Silence from the compliant (collaborationist?) French media.
Typo. Pascua should be “Pasqua”
Bravo, Roger. Great work.
ìAsked if Annan should remain, Cheney finessed the question and replied, “Our views haven’t changed any with respect to Kofi Annan.”î
I am going to pretend that Iím a mind reader. This is what Dick Cheney was thinking:
ìOur views havenít changed with respect to Kofi Annan. Heís still a jerk. Thereís no sense for us to publicly criticize him. Let others be the ones to actually pull the plug. Kofi Annan is increasingly being marginalized. This means he will less likely get in our face and place obstacles in front of those advocating for freedom throughout the world.î
ìReading Louis’ critical comments on the Austin Bay site, I laughed at the silliness of his comment “has not this oil for food scandal been going between going long enough?” argument.î
It is only the Blogging community that has kept the oil for food scandal alive. Other than that, this story like the Sandy Berger scandal would have received the MSM ìminimumî and then immediately buried in the back pages. Louis is upset because this scandal is severely hindering the liberal agenda. Iím convinced that he would be uttering the exact opposite complaint if Halliburton were deeply involved in this mess. In that case, the MSM would be blamed for not given sufficient attention to the food for oil story.
I checked the comments to see if “Duke” was going to apologize for trashing your work, now that the London Sunday Times has the same thing. Why am I not surprised to not see an apology?
And yet another interesting link. Canada.
http://acepilots.com/unscam/archives/001890.html
Fascinating how the concern of all our Friends and Allies (erstwhile division) to our war on Iraq seems to be more a concern as to how the gravy train was ending.
An even better link
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2005/cover030505.htm
If you haven’t been following what has happened in Canada, the revelations being aired by a blog called Canadian Free Press, you might want to. Seems the Canadians have been up to some Enron type machinations but on a global scale. Here is a link to the link http://acepilots.com/unscam/ Very interesting stuff, seems the Canadians were way ahead of Ken Lay in ingenuity.
Claudia Rossett deserves the Pulitzer and I think we should start a campaign to this end. Undoubtedly, she won’t get it–her work was too good, too important and not the least bit pc. Roger, I tag you the leader in this. How do we best coalesce the forces who understand the brilliant , hard work she has done, and believe she deserves recognition for it?
It is much better, over the long run, to let this scandal run another year or so of inept cover-ups and stonewalls. The UN simply cannot survive without the US. As I believe the “institution” is far too corrupt to even contemplate saving, I think the longer this charade continues, the greater the chance US public opinion irrevocably turns against the UN to the point where most of our leadership decides to abandon the UN. The succeeding institution should be comprised exclusively of nations with freely elected governments with constitutionally protected minority rights, a strong “rule of law” ethic and market-based economics. We should create an international organization others should aspire to join, rather than one fatally compromised by anti-American, genocidal klepto-crats that do so much evil under the cover of ‚Äúinternational law.‚Äù
Tim:
Your idea is a good one but the sad fact of life is that the US will not leave the UN. Let’s be realistic.
Bush/Cheney/Condi will pay lip service to it as an institution, but effectively ignore it which is far better than a Democratic administration which would honor and empower it in a Holbrookian sense and continue its corrupt ineffective ways. This is one of the real dividing lines between the parties. And the GOP should use this division as a basis for its governance into the 21st century.
The US is better ignoring it. In a very real sense, this allows the US to move independently, along with committed allies, to achieve its purposes. Let the UN be a debating society and
a facade for international cooperation. Red America senses this and will hopefully side with the GOP in the future. It is never too early to think 2008 and beyond.
Excellent work Roger but it looks like they’re moving the battleground. Anne Applebaum presented a very dangerous proposition in today‘s Telegraph.
If whitewashing Kofi and the U.N.’s failures won’t work, the new approach, ‘Soft-Selling Issues’ will certainly find fertile ground(at least amongst the defenders of tyranny)…‘Don’t be surprised by the UN’s corruption’ or ‘Just Hold Your Nose and Look the Other Way(and be sure to continue donating money…thank you so much).’
Now…back to your regularly scheduled MSM programs, ‘Bush Lied!’ ‘The Horror – Abu Ghraib!’ and ‘No Blood for Oil!’
Ignoring the UN would be fine.
Starving it of funding would be even better.
Reallocating UN dues to USAID and the DoD?
Priceless.
It’s enough to make one’s head spin. What a tangled web one has woven. Seems there’s no option but to let Kofi twist in the wind.
Would it be wrong of me to find one optimistic footnote to this Kofi/ UN corruption debacle? Coming from Atlanta where a former Mayor cried racism when he was investigated for corruption and tax evasion and subsequently indicted, I am pleased that denunciations of Kofi and Kojo are only being cast as American/ Republican/ neo-con plotting against an idealist institution, and not as WhiteMan/ Republican racism against an SG and son who happen to be “of color”. Isn’t this somewhat of an improvement in PC victim-speak?
Charlotte,
Itís early days yet. When MSM finally realizes that Kofi is in real trouble, they will pull the race card. It is simply irresistible.
ìThe US is better ignoring it. In a very real sense, this allows the US to move independently, along with committed allies, to achieve its purposes.î
We are in complete agreement. It matters little whether Kofi Annan stays or leaves. The real action will take place outside the walls of the United Nations. The Bush administration will simply work together with its true allies and politely ignore its lukewarm friends and overtly hostile enemies. Why not disband the present institution and start fresh? This would cause too many awkward situations. Who would be invited to join? More importantly, who would be excluded? Pakistanís government, for instance, is a dictatorship—and yet its leader General Pervez Musharraf bravely fights against the terrorists. No, the United States will accomplish more with backroom handshakes and phone calls in the middle of the night.
The “Duke” referred to in this and previous exclamations on Roger’s wionderful site is NOT…
Duke of DeLand of
http://pekinprattles.blogspot.com
Given the distain with which his quite unintelligent posts have been greeted, I most certainly DO NOT want to be confused with this “Duke”….
I guess I shall continually use the Duke of DeLand monitor, and post to my blog….
Thanks
& Roger, FINE JOB…..please continue to keep us informed!
Duke of DeLand