Cigar division… Meanwhile, the Bolton vote is delayed (no pun intended). At the same time, in real news rather than political posturing by Senators more interested in themselves than genuine reform of the United Nations (who knew?), the first Oil-for-Food indictments are coming in - and it’s the American judicial process taking the action.
UPDATE: Here is the NYT story on the Oil-for-Food indictments of a Texas businessman as well as a British and Bulgarian citizen. I am posting (for me) a long excerpt of the final part.
Many member countries at the United Nations have refused to cooperate fully with a separate inquiry by investigators looking into waste, fraud and mismangement in the oil-for-food program, which was intended to allow Iraq to sell limited quantities of oil in return for humanitarian relief.
The Independent Inquiry Committee, head by Paul A. Volcker, former head of the Federal Reserve, has issued two interim reports of its findings, and a final report is due in midsummer.
In its first interim report, on Feb. 4, the commission found that the former head of the program, Benon V. Sevan, had a “grave and continuing conflict of interest” in helping a friend obtain valuable Iraqi oil contracts and said a second United Nations official, Joseph Stephanides, had violated procurement rules. Both men have been suspended and are in the process of answering United Nations charges against them.
Questions have also been raised about the participation of Kojo Annan, son of the United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan. The elder Mr. Annan has was criticized in the most recent interim report on the grounds that he failed to perceive the appearance of a conflict of interest when Kojo Annan was employed by a contractor employed by the program.
Kofi Annan told 1,600 employees gathered in the General Assembly hall on April 6 that there had been “troubling lapses” in the management of the Iraq program but that he was making changes to prevent any recurrence.
On Jan. 18, Samir A. Vincent, an Iraqi-American businessman, pleaded guilty to lobbying influential Americans on behalf of Mr. Hussein without registering as a foreign agent. Mr. Vincent admitted he had secretly been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars and granted rights to sell millions of dollars’ worth of Iraqi oil, in exchange for working to end United Nations economic sanctions imposed in 1990. He is now cooperating with [US Attorney] Mr. Kelley.
Look back at the first quoted paragraph (”Many member countries at the United Nations have refused to cooperate fully…”) and ask yourself whether it isn’t time for a strong reformer like John Bolton for US Ambassador to the UN. A political game is being played over his nomination right now in our Senate with people who habitually mistreat their subordinates accusing others of doing so. I don’t doubt they all do. Politics is not a world of pleasant people, particularly behind closed doors. Larger issues are involved here, however. Much larger. Time for the likes of Chris Dodd to get serious (shame on him)!
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31 Comments
1. Michael Kantor:Yep, the Bolton confirmation hearings are about the Democratic Senators beating their chests, saying “look at us take on those evil Republicans.”
How does this help the average American that Dems claim to represent? Does it really matter to the average American if the U.N. ambassador is a tough guy? Whoever is appointed can only represent the policy of the administration, so the hearings are just a big exercise in grandstanding.
Apr 14, 2005 - 9:10 am 2. charlotte:There is another Texas businessman being looked at along with Vincent (NY Post):
According to documents recently obtained by the House International Relations Committee, Texas oilman Oscar Wyatt and Saddam Hussein’s American oil spy, Samir Vincent, worked together to finance shipments of medicines and baby formula for Iraq in 1997 and 1998 through such charities as the Friendship Force Foundation, a group closely connected to former President Jimmy Carter, his wife, Rosalynn, and other luminaries…
… the donations, each worth several hundred thousand dollars, are being looked at by law-enforcement agencies… The shipments were made at a time when Vincent, a former Iraqi Olympic athlete and Virginia-based geophysicist, was being paid $5 million in cash and sweetheart oil deals by Saddam to act as a secret agent inside the United States…
Wyatt also may have had an ulterior motive for these donations… Iraqi Oil Ministry documents released last fall indicate that Wyatt was the largest U.S. recipient of Iraqi vouchers that enabled him to buy Iraqi oil at below-market prices. Wyatt made a $23 million profit from these deals and is among about 20 American individuals and companies involved in oil-for-food deals that are now subject to an investigation by the U.S. attorney in Manhattan.
I went to school with Wyatt’s kids in the mid 70s. One day at a field hockey game, my mom asked me to ask Lynn who did her hair because it was always so lovely. I asked and she laughed, saying that she had it done in Paris every two weeks. The Wyatts are heavy Democrat donors. Maybe they’ll get through this just fine…
Apr 14, 2005 - 9:18 am 3. karmic inquisitor:Roger -
You often understate things, as is the style of reasoned people. However, this one is the understatement of the year:
“Politics is not a world of pleasant people, particularly behind closed doors.”
To balance things by overstatement, I think politics is a realm for people with certain psych disorders. That these disorders are put into largely harmless and non-violent activities is a healthy thing for society - just imagine guys like Joe Biden as war lords.
Apr 14, 2005 - 9:20 am 4. thomas lifson:Don’t overlook the name Tongsun Park here. He was at the center of the Koreagate scandal, and now seems to have been working for Saddam. I guess he is ecumenical in terms of whom he will serve as a bagman for.
My blog on the topic: http://www.americanthinker.com/comments.php?comments_id=1983
Apr 14, 2005 - 9:27 am 5. Canucklehead:Watching this and other interrelated scandals unwind adds a new dimension of understanding to the wise old saying
… It takes a village to raise a child. In the City, a teacher can bugger a whole bunch of them…
The tennacles of global governance seem to reach out in all directions, touching and caressing everything for it’s benefit.
I’m looking forward to when Mr. Bolton goes to Turtle Bay.
Apr 14, 2005 - 9:48 am 6. Baron Bodissey:Roger (and everyone) — OT, but everyone should see Andy McCarthy’s article at NRO about what Scott McClellan said concerning Hamas. When the president’s spokesman becomes an apologist for the “political wing” of a brutal terrorist organization, it’s time for outrage.
Apr 14, 2005 - 9:58 am 7. nicholas47:(”Many member countries at the United Nations have refused to cooperate fully…”)
Of course the country they’re obliquely referring to in this case is the United States itself. I remember couple stories a few weeks ago after latest Volcker report came out in which Volcker and one of the other investigators said that round 3 would focus on Security Council, and they weren’t getting any cooperation from the Americans.
That’s the great hypocrisy of the whole damn thing. The Americans and the rest of the council were just as complicit as anybody.
Apr 14, 2005 - 9:58 am 8. Kyda Sylvester:OT, but only slightly.
I write a lot of letters to the editor. I’d say over the years I’ve had letters printed in almost every major US daily, but I never cracked the NYT…until today. You’ll note mine is the only dissenting voice. And I see they declined to print my closing paragraph about Barbara Boxer, but I admit it was gratuitiously snarky.
Who wants to bet that the only players in this scandal made to account for their actions will be those subject to US or Iraqi jurisdiction?
Apr 14, 2005 - 10:14 am 9. yama-arashi:Kyda,
Nice letter. Blunt. Which is good. I’m surprised they published it. If you remember the last paragraph they cut, I’m always up for a little gratuitous snarkiness. Congratulations.
Apr 14, 2005 - 10:25 am 10. Rick Ballard:“The Americans and the rest of the council were just as complicit as anybody.”
I assume you’re referring to the “oversight function” of the UNSC. If so, you still have to take account of the Secretariat’s direct line responsibility for OFF. The SC has no independent means of investigation or even corroboration of Secretariat action. Even in instances where specific objections to OFF transactions were raised the Secretariat lobbied (mostly successfully) for approval of dubious transactions.
If you are suggesting that membership in a corrupt organization lacking structural checks or balances constitutes complicity in its corrupt practices, I would have to agree with you. Are you then advocating withdrawal by the US from the den of thieves or did you have something else in mind?
Apr 14, 2005 - 10:33 am 11. Michael B:“Both men (Sevan and Stephanides) have been suspended and are in the process of answering United Nations charges against them.”
They’ve been suspended (Sevan has essentially retired with a very considerable retirement package). By stark contrast formal indictments are being initiated against private citizens (non-UN employees) wherein their respective countries are providing cooperation (e.g., financial records) and exercising legal coordination and prosecutorial jurisdiction. Not only have they been suspended only (without any formal indictment), but Sevan’s legal fees are being reimbursed out of the same oil-for-food funds that were being grifted. This, despite the fact that Sevan is well beyond the indictable stage of the investigative process, more than a sufficient amount of evidence has accrued against him to indict under any normal (non-UN) review. Further still, Sevan is a Cypriot and Cyprus is one of those countries refusing to cooperate with the Volcker investigation. Hence Sevan is likely to receive formal UN censure at the very worse since legal interdiction by Cyprus is highly unlikely to ensue.
Regarding Kofi himself, it was his own right-hand man, his Chief of Staff Iqbal Riza, not some underling, who spent appx. seven months shredding documents. Riza was Annan’s chief of staff from ‘97 to ‘04, covering most of the oil-for-food chronology and on the very day (1/15/05) Riza informed the Volcker committee he had shredded oil-for-food documents, Kofi announced the retirement of Riza who has also been granted immunity from prosecution.
It was another right-hand man working directly under Kofi, Louise Frechette, who had ordered that findings from prior UN internal audits implicating the oil-for-food operation not be provided to members of the Security Council.
Link to various summaries …
Apr 14, 2005 - 10:49 am 12. Jamie Irons:Kyda
Great letter, and congratulations on breaking into the NYT!
So you’re from Auburn…I can almost see (on a very clear winter day) your town from “my” mountain northeast of Napa.
Jamie Irons
Apr 14, 2005 - 10:53 am 13. Rick Ballard:Michael B.,
You mention indictments in a manner that implies that Volcker has or had the power to issue one. Are you referring to moral rather than legal indictment? I’ve looked rather diligently (for me) and haven’t found a body of statutory law applicable to UN functionaries other than that of their country of origin.
Tons of regulations with a maximum penalty consisting of losing employment (although not retirement benefits) but nothing approaching a criminal code. These people appear to be accountable to no one.
Apr 14, 2005 - 11:15 am 14. Michael B:Rick B,
I failed to make myself clear regarding the issue of indicting Sevan, was using that reference in a rhetorical manner, not substantive, as it applies to Volcker’s investigation per se. However, that’s why I did otherwise emphasize the need for individual countries (in Sevan’s case, Cyprus) to provide investigative cooperation and legal coordination, including prosecutorial jurisdiction. As I understand it Volcker has no prosecutorial jurisdiction and all UN employees have diplomatic immunity from U.S. interdiction, hence Cyprus, in Sevan’s case, would be the only country with potential legal jurisdiction; yet Cyprus is refusing to cooperate. Hence, for Sevan, it would appear to be little more than a shell game.
Apr 14, 2005 - 11:38 am 15. jedrury:What do Chris Dodd and Lincoln Chaffee have in common?
Daddy’s boys; each arose to the Senate
on their father’s coattails. And, the left has the audacity to mock the president.
Dodd, Ted’s former running buddy and the Senate’s self proclaimed South America expert, aspires to # 2 in the Senate blowhard sweepstakes following Ernest Hollings (retired) and the reigning king, Joe “Flannel Mouth” Biden. Fortunately, the substance of their proclamations never meets the decibel levels of their claims.
Apr 14, 2005 - 11:41 am 16. WichitaBoy:Rick,
Why should a “new man” be accountable to anyone? “New men” never commit transgressions. The UN is the better, progressive government, it’s the government of the future!
Apr 14, 2005 - 11:52 am 17. Rick Ballard:Michael B,
Thanks for clarifying. I believe that it would be efficacious if the Volcker committee did issue a strong moral indictment of those involved and a recommendation for a purge of the Secretariat. Anything less should result in a US withdrawal from most UN functions.
Wrt a Sevan indictment in Cyprus, it may well be that Cyprus doesn’t have much in the way of statutory prohibition concerning his conduct. The US is rather singular in its approach to corruption. Politicians in most countries are very wary of passing laws that impose penalties for conduct that they habitually practice.
Apr 14, 2005 - 12:07 pm 18. Buddy Larsen:“Texas Oilman”, yechh, Oscar Wyatt is better described as “one of that peculiar group of super-rich crooks who found a warm home inside the Democratic Party, because of the two parties it is the one to join if you are doing things that require political henchmen to keep your ass out of the penitentiary”.
Kyda, well-said in the NYTimes, even if they did pen you as a paleo specimen, with this master Newspeak sentence from just below your name (read it twice, for full effect):
“This is clearly just another example of crafty politics by the administration. By nominating someone so obviously controversial, the Bush administration ensures that opponents on Capitol Hill will be forced to waste political capital and energy in vain attempts to derail the nomination.”
I dunno, is that “Newspeak” or “Doublespeak”?
Apr 14, 2005 - 12:26 pm 19. Michael B:Re, John Bolton, The Daily Demarche has a copy of a letter sent to the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (Lugar) and signed by Weinberger, Woolsey and dozens of other arms control types, diplomats, etc. - in support of Bolton and the President’s policies and reprimanding Senate Dems.
Apr 14, 2005 - 12:27 pm 20. charlotte:Obviously “Boozespeak”.
Kyda, Couldn’t you please post your good letter here for those of us who won’t register with the Times?
Apr 14, 2005 - 12:45 pm 21. Rick Ballard:WB,
I think you have identified the problem. Don Kofi is ‘New Man’ V2.4562341827B Build 11,648 which through the process of historical inevitability must be replaced by ‘New Man’ V2.4562341827C Build 1 which is sure to be the apotheosis of human evolution towards history’s end.
I can’t imagine why I didn’t recognize the implacable deterministic forces involved here.
Apr 14, 2005 - 12:56 pm 22. Terrye:nicholas:
Back in the 90’s both the UK and the US tried to bring up issues concerning smuggling, human rights abuses and corruption in regards to Iraq and were shot down by delegates of France and Russia in the security council everytime.
There was no interest in pursuing this in the UN and if not for the US we would not be hearing about it now.
I don’t see Cyprus going after Sevon for breaking the banking laws in his own country. So far Kojo and his dad are not in any real trouble.
No, two out of three indictments brought today are from the only two countries that seem to care one way or the other if a law was broken at all.
Apr 14, 2005 - 1:05 pm 23. Terrye:Kyda:
hey, that is really great.
The NYT is tough.
I do think going after Bolton like this is stupid.
Speaking of gratuitously snarky I would say tha tis what this silly performance is. Those same Senators are no doubt pretty damn difficult to get a long with themselves.
Apr 14, 2005 - 1:07 pm 24. yama-arashi:Rick,
Shhhhhhhhhh!! Not so loud. Now you’re in real trouble. Wait till C3.3778594037Ej gets a hold of you.
Apr 14, 2005 - 1:08 pm 25. Old Dad:Kyda:
Nice letter. I’m sure you gave many a lib a bad case of the vapors.
Something I’d like to see. A cogent explication of why we should not hold the UN in “withering disdain”.
Apr 14, 2005 - 2:02 pm 26. M. Simon:In case you hadn’t seen it, I posted a bit on the Volcker cover up of the involvement of the Canadian Demarais in this scandal.
Oh yes, there is a French angle too. Total Elf is involved.
Apr 14, 2005 - 2:03 pm 27. Kyda Sylvester:For Charlotte because she asked so nicely and thanks, everyone, for the kind remarks.
To the Editor:
It’s always amusing to see the editorial board of The Times in high dudgeon.
You may not realize this, but most Americans hold the United Nations in “withering disdain.” And why not? The United Nations in its current state is worthy of withering disdain. Its only hope for survival is a complete overhaul, new rules and new leadership (many of us would be more than happy to see the whole sorry mess “scuttled”).
None of that can be accomplished if we send the kind of sycophantic representative your editors would choose.
Kyda Sylvester
Auburn, Calif., April 13, 2005
Apr 14, 2005 - 3:21 pm 28. charlotte:Brava, Kyda!
Apr 14, 2005 - 3:30 pm 29. JJay:The NYTimes and the other instruments of the left have given up on Washington for the time being as being captive to the red states. Their fall back position for advancing the agenda is the UN. Having a hard nose like Bolton there is a spanner thrown into the machinery. Speaking of Joe Biden, he looks like he figures enough time has passed since he was caught at plagarism — “borrowing” a speech from a British politician and passing it off as his own — that he can dust off those old presidential hopes. If he goes for new hair plugs, you know he’s in the race.
Apr 14, 2005 - 3:34 pm 30. Buddy Larsen:JJay, have you ever seen anyone who better makes a more compleat fool of himself every time he opens his mouth–and has less clue that he’s doing it? The Mattel hair-do shoulda done him in long ago. Heavyweight senators to balance the exec is just what Doc Madison prescribed, but, yech, we didn’t have to watch the sausage being made back then.
Apr 14, 2005 - 3:56 pm 31. richard mcenroe:Just another thing life inside the Beltway has in common with show business. Your clout is determined in large part by who you can get away with abusing.
Buddy Larsen, JJ รณ If Biden runs again, let’s just ask him what he thought he was doing when he described how to stab US soldiers to death through their body armor on national television…
Apr 14, 2005 - 6:07 pm