Facing mounting criticism of the United Nations' management of an oil-for-food humanitarian program in prewar Iraq, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan today appointed former U.S. Federal Reserve Bank chairman Paul Volcker to head a panel that will probe allegations of corruption at the U.N. agency. Volcker's appointment comes less than a week before the first of two hearings in the U.S. House into allegations that Iraq was able to illegally siphon billions of dollars from the U.N. program when it was supposed to exchange oil only for civilian goods. U.S. lawmakers have warned that a credible investigation into corruption in the program is essential to restoring the United Nations' reputation at a time when it is being called upon to help Iraq through its political transition this year and elections early next year. "Assuming there is wrongdoing found by some U.N. officials, it is important to have an independent and credible investigation into these allegations to put to rest any lingering concerns," said Nancy Soderberg, a former U.S. representative of political affairs to the United Nations. "I think Secretary General Annan has made it clear he will do what it takes to save his skin and his son."
| And these are the guys who will guide the Iraqis to democracy, uh-huh. |
Volcker's panel will probe those charges as well as broader allegations that Hussein skimmed billions of dollars from the 1996 oil-for-food program, which permitted Iraq to sell oil and use that money only for purchases of food, medicine and other civilian goods. The Bush administration has defended Annan, charging that Russia, France, China and other commercial partners of the former Iraqi regime bore greater responsibility for misconduct by routinely frustrating efforts to rein in abuses in the program. "We have had resistance" from those countries "with respect to correcting improprieties and inadequacies" in the program, John D. Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week. The United States says it supports an appeal by Annan and Volcker for passage of a legally binding Security Council resolution that would "compel member states and entities to comply with the secretary general's intention to thoroughly investigate the charges," according to Richard Grenell, spokesman for the U.S. mission to the United Nations. But Russia opposes the adoption of such a resolution. A senior Russian diplomat suggested that the oil-for-food "scandal" is an invention of conservative activists in the United States who also promoted the theory that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. "Are they doing these hearings alongside with the WMD inquiries?" Russia's acting U.N. ambassador, Gennady Gatilov, said in an interview. "I personally have very big doubts about any possible corruption on the part of the United Nations."
| Gee, I have no doubts at all. |
U.S. and U.N. officials say they have been aware of abuses in the program since late 2000. But they said they could find little hard proof until the collapse of Hussein's regime. That's when Iraqi civil servants told U.S. officials the regime charged a cash commission of at least 10 percent on every contract since 2001. "It was the ministry officials themselves who came to us and said, 'Here's what's been going on. Here is the system; here are the percentages,' " Robin L. Raphael, the State Department's Iraq reconstruction coordinator, told the Senate. |