Kofi Must Go
So says Sen. Norm Coleman in tomorrow's WSJ article. Here's the text of that article.
By Sen. NORM COLEMAN
December 1, 2004
It's time for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to resign.
Over the past seven months, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which I chair, has conducted an exhaustive, bipartisan investigation into the scandal surrounding the U.N. Oil-for-Food program. That noble program was established by the U.N. to ease the suffering of the Iraqi people, then languishing under Saddam Hussein's ironfisted rule, as well as the economic sanctions imposed on Iraq by the U.N. after the first Gulf War. While sanctions were designed to instigate the removal of Saddam from power, or at least render him impotent, the Oil-for-Food program was designed to support the Iraqi people with food & other humanitarian aid under the watchful eye of the U.N.
Our Investigative Subcommittee has gathered overwhelming evidence that Saddam turned this program on its head. Rather than erode his power, the program was manipulated by Saddam to line his own pockets & actually strengthen his position at the expense of the Iraqi people. At our hearing on Nov. 15, we presented evidence that Saddam accumulated more than $21 billion through abuses of the Oil-for-Food program & U.N. sanctions.
We continue to amass evidence that he used the overt support of prominent members of the U.N., such as France & Russia, along with numerous foreign officials, companies & possibly even senior U.N. officials, to exploit the program to his advantage. We’ve obtained evidence that indicates that Saddam doled out lucrative oil allotments to foreign officials, sympathetic journalists & even one senior U.N. official, in order to undermine international support for sanctions. In addition, we’re gathering evidence that Saddam gave hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions, of OFF dollars to terrorists & terrorist organizations. All of this occurred under the supposedly vigilant eye of the U.N.
While many questions concerning Oil-for-Food (OFF) remain unanswered, one conclusion’s become abundantly clear: Kofi Annan should resign. The decision to call for his resignation doesn’t come easily, but I’ve arrived at this conclusion because the most extensive fraud in the history of the U.N. occurred on his watch. In addition, & perhaps more importantly, as long as Mr. Annan remains in charge, the world will never be able to learn the full extent of the bribes, kickbacks & under-the-table payments that took place under the U.N.'s collective nose.
Mr. Annan was at the helm of the U.N. for all but a few days of the Oil-for-Food program, & he must, therefore, be held accountable for the U.N.'s utter failure to detect or stop Saddam's abuses. The consequences of the U.N.'s ineptitude can’t be overstated: Saddam was empowered to withstand the sanctions regime, remain in power, & even rebuild his military. Needless to say, he made the Iraqi people suffer even more by importing substandard food & medicine under the Oil-for-Food program & pawning it off as first-rate humanitarian aid.
Since it was never likely that the U.N. Security Council, some of whose permanent members were awash in Saddam's favors, would ever call for Saddam's removal, the U.S. & its coalition partners were forced to put troops in harm's way to oust him by force. Today, money swindled from Oil-for-Food may be funding the insurgency against coalition troops in Iraq & other terrorist activities against U.S. interests. Simply put, the troops probably wouldn’t have been placed in such danger if the U.N. had done its job in administering sanctions & Oil-for-Food.
This systemic failure of the U.N. & Oil-for-Food is exacerbated by evidence that at least one senior U.N. official, Benon Sevan, Mr. Annan's hand-picked director of the U.N.'s Oil-for-Food oversight agency, reportedly received bribes from Saddam. According to documents from the Iraqi oil ministry that were obtained by us, Mr. Sevan received several allotments of oil under Oil-for-Food, each of which was worth hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars.
To make matters worse, the actions of Mr. Annan's own son have been called into question. Specifically, the U.N. recently admitted that Kojo Annan received more money than previously disclosed from a Swiss company named Cotecna, which was hired by the U.N. to monitor Iraq's imports under Oil-for-Food. Recently, there are growing, albeit unproven, allegations that Kofi Annan himself not only understands his son's role in this scandal, but that he’s been less than forthcoming in what he knew & when he knew it.
As a former prosecutor, I believe in the presumption of innocence. Such revelations cast a dark cloud over Mr. Annan's ability to address the U.N.'s quagmire, however. Mr. Annan has named the esteemed Paul Volcker to investigate Oil-for-Food-related allegations, but the latter's team is severely hamstrung in its efforts. His panel has no authority to compel the production of documents or testimony from anyone outside the U.N. Nor does it possess the power to punish those who fabricate information, alter evidence or omit material facts. It must rely entirely on the goodwill of the very people & entities it’s investigating. We must also recognize that Mr. Volcker's effort is wholly funded by the U.N., at Mr. Annan's control. Moreover, Mr. Volcker must issue his final report directly to the secretary general, who will then decide what, if anything, is released to the public.
Therefore, while I have faith in Mr. Volcker's integrity & abilities, it’s clear the U.N. simply can’t root out its own corruption while Mr. Annan is in charge: To get to the bottom of the murk, it's clear that there needs to be a change at the top. In addition, a scandal of this magnitude requires a truly independent examination to ensure complete transparency, & to restore the credibility of the U.N. To that end, I reiterate our request for access to internal U.N. documents, & for access to U.N. personnel who were involved in the Oil-for-Food program.
All of this adds up to one conclusion: It's time for Kofi Annan to step down. The massive scope of this debacle demands nothing less. If this widespread corruption had occurred in any legitimate organization around the world, its CEO would’ve been ousted long ago, in disgrace. Why is the U.N. different?
Sen. Coleman is chairman of the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, & a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.