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| Iraq |
| Few U.N. Foreign Employees Left in Iraq |
| 2003-09-30 |
| Not that they did very much good while they were there. More than 30 foreign employees of the United Nations left Iraq over the weekend after Secretary-General Kofi Annan sent them home because of security concerns, leaving just 50 non-Iraqi workers behind, a U.N. spokesman said Monday. The number of foreign workers will continue to fluctuate, spokesman Fred Eckhard said at a news briefing. 50 non-Iraqis on UN per-diems ought to keep a couple of restaurants going, at least. The United Nations had 300 foreign employees in Baghdad and another 300 elsewhere in Iraq before an Aug. 19 car bomb killed 22 people at the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad. Annan later ordered the number reduced to 42 in Baghdad and 44 in the north. Annan ordered further cutbacks last week following a second bombing, but did not say how many of the remaining staffers would leave. Eckhard has said the United Nation’s humanitarian work should continue, with limited international supervision, using its 4,233 Iraqi employees. Now there’s an idea, letting the Iraqis work for themselves. But Annan has indicated that if security does not improve, he might not allow the world body’s international staff to return in sufficient numbers to do more, adding that the United Nations would be prevented from helping Iraq write and adopt a new constitution and hold elections. Darn. Drat. Shoot. Heck. Fudge. The U.N. Staff Union, representing 5,000 staff members worldwide, has called for the suspension of U.N. operations and the withdrawal of all U.N. staff in Iraq because of the "unacceptable risks." Officials running the U.N. oil-for- I think Mr. Bremer knows how to phase it out. Benon Sevan, who runs the program that gave And the remaining $38 billion? Where did that go? Wonder what it will take to get an AP reporter to ask that question? |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #5 Yeah, hand over Iraq to the UN. We can clearly see the resolve and determination of that organization. They refused security from the US saying it would attract terrorists and make them look like they were in cahoots with the coalition. The bomb goes off and then out of the other side of their mouth they claim "Nobody ever asked us if we needed security on our facility." Asses. It's really a shame that the only brave head UN administrator had to die in the blast. Strong and courageous leaders are hard to come by at the UN. I can only say, I wish it could have been Coffee Ann Ann instead. |
| Posted by: Paul 2003-9-30 9:13:38 PM |
| #4 Do they UN Bureaus still qualify for per diem if they are telecommunting? |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-9-30 8:53:06 PM |
| #3 Heh, we CAN'T hand over control of Iraq to a non-existent UN administration! |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-9-30 5:55:33 PM |
| #2 Reading this article, I have a newfound belief that we can actually do something RIGHT in Iraq - the UN won't be there to screw it up. With each new twist, the United Nations is sealing its doom as the most useless bureaucratic pimple on the |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-9-30 2:13:15 PM |
| #1 Electric probes, probably... Call for Ludmilla Kropotkin! Dr. Ludmilla Kropotkin! |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-9-30 11:08:50 AM |