Summary
The 219-page interim report on the U.N. Oil for Food Program, which was released late Thursday by the panel headed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, constitutes yet another disturbing indictment of the program.
In some ways, the timing of the report by Mr. Volcker's Independent Inquiry Committee, which provides more details of malfeasance, could not be better: U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the United Nations Association and members of the congressional Democratic leadership have launched a vigorous counterattack in recent weeks in an effort to salvage the United Nations' reputation, which has been badly tarnished by the oil-for-food scandal. The crux of their argument is that manipulating the Oil for Food Program wasn't terribly important, because it was just one of the ways in which Saddam Hussein flouted international sanctions dating back to 1991, and that Washington had sometimes opted for strategic reasons not to try to force the U.N. Security Council to act against sanctions-busters, including Russia, Turkey and Jordan. Because this sometimes happened, the argument goes, American policy-makers today have no legitimate right to question the performance of Mr. Annan or the United Nations in managing the program.See the full content of this document
Extract
More Oil for Food Questions
While it is certainly true that Saddam began flouting sanctions long before the program was created in la...
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