The sanitizing of the legacy proceeds apace. Just in time for Kofi Annan’s retirement next month, a contributor to the New York Times magazine, James Traub, after more than a year of extraordinary one-on-one access to the UN Secretary-General, has published a book about the UN, and Kofi Annan — “trailing clouds of glory” — as its noble yet suffering incarnation. Having recently reviewed it for the NY Sun, I am by now wondering if there ought to be an entire officially recognized genre of UN cover-ups dressed up as in-depth reports.
On Kofi's Couch
By
Claudia Rosett
Nov 18, 2006 9:44 PM ET
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Claudia Rosett is widely recognized as a ground-breaking reporter on corruption at the United Nations. Her investigative reporting skills, drawn from three decades as a journalist covering international affairs, led her to expose the U.N. Oil-for-Food scandal, the worst financial fraud in the history of humanitarian relief. Ms. Rosett worked from 1984-2002 as a staff editorialist, editor and reporter at The Wall Street Journal, and has appeared before six U.S. House and Senate Committees and Subcommittees to testify on subjects including U.N.-related corruption and the Iran-North Korea strategic alliance. Her work on Oil-for-Food earned Claudia the 2005 Eric Breindel Award and the Mightier Pen award, and for her on-site coverage of China's Tiananmen Square in 1989, she won an Overseas Press Club Citation for Excellence. She is a Foreign Policy Fellow with the Independent Women's Forum, and writes a column on foreign affairs for Forbes.com.