Michelle Malkin and several emailers have noted that this blog is under attack by a blog sponsored by the U. N. Foundation. They complain that I focus on the bad things about the United Nations without evincing sufficient interest in the organization’s positive contributions – all this, evidently, for my own self-aggrandizement. [You probably thought you were supporting a clean U. N.-ed. Me idiot.]
MEANWHILE: The real investigation continues. And continues.
PJM Home
Pajamas Media appreciates your comments that abide by the following guidelines:
1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote or is relevant to the comment.
2. Stay on topic.
3. Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.
4. Threats are treated seriously and reported to law enforcement.
5. Spam and advertising are not permitted in the comments area.
The clause regarding "hate speech" has been deleted because readers criticized it as being too loosely defined. We agreed.
These guidelines are very general and cannot cover every possible situation. Please don't assume that Pajamas Media management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment. We reserve the right to filter or delete comments or to deny posting privileges entirely at our discretion. If you feel your comment was filtered inappropriately, please email us at story@pajamasmedia.com.
103 Comments
1. Robert Crawford:But Simon, that’s why THEY’D focus so much on it!
I wish I found it amazing that they’re not worried about the extent to which the UN has been involved in corruption and even funding terrorism. As more OFF news comes out, I’m becoming convinced that one of the unspoken reasons for removing Saddam was to end the OFF cash pipeline.
May 11, 2005 - 11:57 am 2. Lola:Apparently they’re afraid to take comments . . . only way to leave comment is to trackback. I really wanted to ask them about those sex scandals, and what’s going on in Kosovo, etc. etc.
May 11, 2005 - 12:03 pm 3. Allah:Maybe they’d feel better if you laid off the Oil-for-Food business for awhile and concentrated on the Congo sex crimes scandal instead.
Variety is the spice of life.
May 11, 2005 - 12:08 pm 4. Bostonian:Roger,
Don’t you know all those Good Works just cancel out the evil of the Oil for Food?
Provided our good masters at the UN have paid sufficient homage to Good Intentions, they can steal as much money, rape as many kids, and buy as many politicians as they like.
Why can’t you see that?
May 11, 2005 - 12:13 pm 5. Victor Eremita:For heaven’s sake, Roger–don’t look at the slashed throat, look at the remaining 99.9 percent of the skin that’s still intact! I mean, yes, the poor fellow’s not looking so great from the neck up, but if you’ll just avert your eyes downwards–so–you’d never know he had only another 59 seconds to live. Just focus on how beautifully pressed his trousers and shirt are, and how positively lively he looks when his limbs occasionally still twitch.
Or to look at it in another way, as long as the car can still wheeze its way forwards, it’s just impolite to point out that you’re getting only about one and a half miles per gallon.
May 11, 2005 - 12:22 pm 6. Allah:Or how about a few posts on the IAEA’s total failure to stop Iran’s drive for nuclear weapons? And just as Rafsanjani is ready to get back in the game, too.
There really is so much more to the UN than Oil-for-Food. Let a thousand flowers bloom.
May 11, 2005 - 12:26 pm 7. Michael B:An efficient technique employed by this UN sponsored blog. It allows them to dismiss, in toto, the subject of oil-for-kickbacks rather than countering even a single specific aspect of that corruption.
This sweeping dismissiveness, it’s reminiscent of ploys used by some of the Enron players; hardly a coincidence.
May 11, 2005 - 12:28 pm 8. varifrank:Where can I go to have my blog attacked by UN? Is there a sign up sheet somewhere. Who do I have to sleep with to get some hatemail from the UN?
What an honor that would be.
May 11, 2005 - 12:31 pm 9. frenchfregoli2:Here’s the message i just send them throuh “contact”:
Per your critisism of Roger L.Simon:
Dear sirs ,
It is obvious from your list of UN accomplishements that RL Simon is a one issue blogger.
i take the liberty of adding to your list of subjects NOT treated by Roger (YET):
- UN sex scandals in various african countries
- UN heroics in Bosnia(how do you spell srebrenica?)
- UN courage in Rwanda(been to movies lately?)
- UN front line actions in Darfur
- UN efficiencies during the last tsunami
Are you SURE you want to pick a fight with Roger(and potentially, a few thousands of his readers)?
May 11, 2005 - 12:41 pm 10. Bruce W.:Here’s what I sent to them (the same way as Frenchfregoli2)
Regarding Roger Simon:
It is shameful that you are avoiding responsibility for the biggest corruption scandal in history by blaming the reporter.
Stop the rape of children by UN forces.
Stop stealing.
Stop lying.
…then think about opening a mouth.
Bruce W.
May 11, 2005 - 12:46 pm 11. IFOC:Isn’t Polio making a comeback? d’oh!
And I didn’t see UNRWA mentioned anywhere there. Hrm… I guess they were only trying to list *positive* achievements.
May 11, 2005 - 12:56 pm 12. the27yanks:I’m sure someone will go through their entries and determine what percentage of their posts are on the Oil for Food scandal.
May 11, 2005 - 12:58 pm 13. Buddy Larsen:Let’s see the books on all those Good UN Activities…how much money went into them, how much money was diverted for “administration”. Of COURSE the UN does good things (among all its activities). The question is, at what cost? The USA could give its UN contribution directly to the Red Cross or Salvation Army, and do plenty of good withOUT having to simultaneously subsidize a crime syndicate.
May 11, 2005 - 1:02 pm 14. C.Y.:I had quite a bit of fun with them Roger. Thanks for the heads up.
May 11, 2005 - 1:02 pm 15. Knucklehead:For what little it’s worth, I added my voice to the “contact” beatings.
May 11, 2005 - 1:06 pm 16. Buddy Larsen:My goodness, C.Y., that was FAST!
May 11, 2005 - 1:08 pm 17. Dante:I wouldn’t worry too much, Roger. Getting the treatment from these guys is like being flailed with wet noodles. They’re too limp to worry about. Just some pitiful, impotent punks. Good for a laugh, and that’s about it. No one takes them seriously, except themselves…..the U.N. hallmark.
May 11, 2005 - 1:09 pm 18. chris_m:Roger, Please continue your focus on the Oil for Food scandal. I often use your site to find these articles you have and link to because it is so difficult finding a SCANDAL OF THIS MAGNITUDE anywhere else!!!!
May 11, 2005 - 1:12 pm 19. Knucklehead:CY,
Nice work!
Shouldn’t that first UN “achievement” be:
Tackling the threat to transational organized crime.
Protecting their own syndicate seems like Job #1 over there at the UN.
Shipping supplies to millions of Iraqi schoolchildren
Gee, at least we know where some of the UNSCAM OFF money went!
May 11, 2005 - 1:16 pm 20. ajf:Peter Daou is a two bit shill. First for the Kerry campaign, now the U.N.
So is the U.N. paying him in oil vouchers or little African girls?
May 11, 2005 - 1:20 pm 21. Kevin P:Roger:
I noticed that with their army of PR flacks they couldn’t find one person to take your posts and demonstrate where you got it wrong and how off base you are.Most innocent parties take what a person accuses them of and brings up eveidence to proove the accuser wrong. All the UN can muster up is that you are mean and greedy. What other groups are famous for throwing the greedy little ### charge around. I won’t answer that.
May 11, 2005 - 1:27 pm 22. Buddy Larsen:Debra DeShong was one of the creepier of many creepy Kerry-heads often on FoxNews during the campaign. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that these people will not twist, slant, misrepresent, obfuscate, or just plain make-up.
May 11, 2005 - 1:35 pm 23. bill:Stop talking about the biggest scandal in human history and concentrate on all the good the UN has done preventing genocide in Africa.
Then the traffic will go away.
May 11, 2005 - 1:37 pm 24. yama-arashi:Congratulations Roger.
I hope everyone checked out the other parts of Daou’s web-site –especially the “oil for food” (sans scandal) area. Propaganda of the sappiest kind, a real riot. Talk about a condemnation of our higher education system which turns out these UN types by the bushel. Can’t anyone get a good classical education in graft, corruption and coverup anymore? This is sophomoric. At least it isn’t being coordinated with others in the “properly educated” classes serving in a Kerry White House. Give them credit though, they are milking oil for food for every last dollar. I wonder how much Daou makes in his little effort, not to mention the people spending time in support, and not spending time doing other work. I had a modicum of respect for Volcker before all this, but as usual I was naive. Timing. Timing. Timing. When does Bush put down the royal flush (two pair is all he really needs with these jokers)? It seems to me things are almost lined up. Don’t go wobbly on us George, enter the pantheon of Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt (Teddy) and Reagan, pull up a seat, and feast on that ambrosia barbecue.
May 11, 2005 - 1:56 pm 25. Hartley:Hi Roger,
They may not allow comments over there, but when they see the astounding list of trackbacks, they may regret leaving that loophole open..
I get enuff crap about how wonderful the UN is through my 8th grader’s school – please feel free to wap ‘em over the head for me, too.
Hartley
May 11, 2005 - 2:04 pm 26. beautifulatrocities:They are correct. Simon never focuses on the UN’s strong points, such as raping small children, organized prositution, see-no-evil genocide, billion dollar accounting boo-boos, anti-Semitism for dummies, & peeling bananas with their feet
May 11, 2005 - 2:12 pm 27. Rick Ballard:Is it reasonable to ask how many of the Kerry Campaign Brainless Trust wound up on the UN payroll? Is it reasonable to ask if funds dedicated to the Indonesian relief effort have been diverted to provide jobs for these losers? Couldn’t Teresa have found slots for them at the Tides Foundation? Was Maurice Strong involved with their hiring? Did George Soros provide letters of recommendation?
This little UN blog raises some very interesting questions. I clicked on the Indonesian housing bit expecting, after five months, to see pictures of at least some foundations being laid, or maybe even Jimmuh nailing up a piece of sheetrock but all I find is an article written in the future tense. And some other articles mentioning that very, very little at all has been accomplished.
Oh well, at least their aren’t any reports of little Indonesian girls being raped or sexually abused by UN employess. Yet.
May 11, 2005 - 2:25 pm 28. Buddy Larsen:If they’re tired of OFF, the UN bloggers could go rent the movie “Hotel Rwanda” (most devastating scene: victims’ radios broadcasting Madeline Albright’s statement on the meaning of ‘genocide’ as the machetes dispatch hundreds of thousands of children). Then, the UN bloggers could read a little of this.
May 11, 2005 - 2:36 pm 29. Michael B:Mayday! Mayday! Blog under attack!
Looking at that title again gave me a raucous LOL. Is it possible to think of any entity in the world today, any state, non-state or trans-national entity whatsoever, concerning which one might positively welcome an attack moreso than the U.N.? Populated by a coterie of emperors with no clothes, and obviously so for any who have eyes to see, they also attempt to gloss over one of the most, perhaps the most, financial debacles in modern history, and not only a debacle but an all too real human tragedy.
Wasn’t there a Peter Sellers movie where Sellers plays a potentate of a small country, where he’s positively attempting to provoke a confrontation with the U.S. for purposes of immediately capitulating and then seeking financial compensation?
The UN’s self-blinded apologists seemingly do not comprehend the emperor-with-no-clothes syndrome they are revealing, exposing, before the public’s eye. There is a play or sitcom here, one that could be hilarious, reminiscent of Vaclav Havel’s The Memorandum or Aristophanes’s The Wasps, among others. At some point, hopefully in the not too distant future, thoughtful and creative types will realize precisely that; though it would require an audience that is not under the thrall of trans-nationalist and Leftist cant and illusions. One can hope.
May 11, 2005 - 2:37 pm 30. Syl:Those poor, sad, people. Their whole worldview is based on wishful thinking and it’s falling apart. They just can’t face it.
To the couch!
May 11, 2005 - 2:44 pm 31. Old Grouch:Michael: “Wasn’t there a Peter Sellers movie…”
Yes, it’s The Mouse That Roared.
May 11, 2005 - 2:49 pm 32. charlotte:Good movie, Old Grouch. And how about Roger L. Simon as The Man From U.N.C.U.L.L., fighting to expose a giant international crime syndicate fronted by transnational con men in the UN. Naturally, Claudia Rosett is The Girl From–
May 11, 2005 - 2:55 pm 33. Kevin P:Roger:
Claudia Rosset- The Girl from Reality World.
May 11, 2005 - 3:07 pm 34. Anthony (Los Angeles):Congratulations, Roger! Think of it as a mark of success: you’ve done such a good job keeping the public eye on the UN’s many failings that their moonbats now feel compelled to counter-attack. (IN their customary, lack-of-any-connection-to-reality way.
Bravo.
May 11, 2005 - 3:18 pm 35. Kevin P:Roger:
Not only is the Un corrupt they are stupid. “Hey guys we need someone to present our message to the American public, any ideas? How about we get someone from the Kerry campaign, they just did a bangup job getting Kerry elected, let’s go with him”
May 11, 2005 - 3:19 pm 36. David Thomson:ìPeter Daou is a two bit shill. First for the Kerry campaign, now the U.N.î
You forgot to add Salon.com:
http://daoureport.salon.com/entry.aspx
Peter Daou is not working for free. Is George Soros providing this gentleman with an income? Atrios openly acknowledges his relationship with Soros. It most certainly would not surprise me if this were the case.
May 11, 2005 - 4:29 pm 37. Hovig:Roger:
Shame on you. The UN/Kerry blog says 20% of your posts during April were focused on Oil-For-Food. TWENTY PERCENT??? Next month I want to see that number go up to FORTY PERCENT, sir!
Seriously: Keep up the good work. You’re wasting the idiots’ time by forcing them to count your posts and perform mathematical calculations, and through their protests they’re stupidly shining the spotlight of scrutiny even more brightly on the issue.
May 11, 2005 - 5:01 pm 38. Crank:Better start watching your back, Roger. Next thing you know, they’ll hit you with one of them nonbinding resolutions.
May 11, 2005 - 5:11 pm 39. Terrye:Hey Roger, the UN kind of makes me think of a Godfather movie with bad acting.
Watch your back.
May 11, 2005 - 5:15 pm 40. Captain Hate:That’s right, Roger. I’m sure they’re strapping on those spiffy blue helmets now.
May 11, 2005 - 5:16 pm 41. Eirik:What I find most intersting to consider is that the UN has made noise that they want some kind of control over the internet, not trusting it to the US.
I wonder if such noise comes from a desire to silence citics like Roger?
May 11, 2005 - 5:52 pm 42. richard mcenroe:Their positive contributions? OK…
I’m positive they’re a bunch of baby-raping, food-stealing thugs and embezzlers…
May 11, 2005 - 5:56 pm 43. Morrie:Roger, it seems to me that the UN defenders have caught Patty Murray syndrome. You remember, sometime after 9/11 she pointed out that Osama Bin Laden was admired for building hospitals and doing other good works.
Keep up the good and important work.
May 11, 2005 - 5:57 pm 44. richard mcenroe:Did I miss something, or did they not have a comments section for some inexplicable reason?
May 11, 2005 - 5:58 pm 45. reel cobra:If the UN holds you in low regard, then you have more friends than you know http://reelcobra.blogspot.com/2005/05/he-jokes-about-it-but-un-is-attacking.html
May 11, 2005 - 6:37 pm 46. Mark in Mexico:Roger,
On my last visit to the apologist site the trackbacks were running 8 to 1 on your (our) side.
May 11, 2005 - 6:39 pm 47. dick:roger,
Keep up your good work. Between you and Claudia Rosett (the woman deserved a Pulitzer or Nobel at least for all the articles she wrote and the info she dug up on the OFF – she was robbed, especially when you consider that Seymour Hersh got one when he was handed a story after themilitary had already taken care of it and he blew it up as if he were a god), maybe we will either get that terrible place on the east side out of New York and the US out of it or else we will get it straightened out and running the way it is supposed to. Preferably US out of the UN.
May 11, 2005 - 7:05 pm 48. Richard Bennett:Roger, you should definitely strive for more balance by dealing with the sex scandals. That’s the only fair thing to do.
May 11, 2005 - 7:10 pm 49. Ben:This sounds fun! Mind if I try?
The US Army has done so much good for the world – helping to defeat Hitler, integrating before just about any other institution in the country, providing a start in life for young people who grew up without much going for them – why worry about Abu Ghraib?
Nixon did so much good for the world – pushing the first real environmental laws in the USA, presiding over a generous social welfare program, acting as an elder statesman after he left office – why worry about Watergate?
For some reason, I don’t expect either of these arguments to be viewed charitably. They essentially make the same argument as our UN friends. Do you think this may tell us something?
May 11, 2005 - 7:19 pm 50. Kevin P:Roger:
The UN flack has written part two of his silly whine about how unfair you are. He still hasn’t gone after the content of your posts, just that you are unbalanced. Nixon should have had this schmuck. He could have told the NYT and the WAPO that they were focusing too much on Watergate and then give a laundry list of their accomplishments, China, nuclear proliferation treaties, yada yada, yada. Then the country would have jumped up in unison and said “Yeah, you guys are mean, quit it!” Nixon wouldn’t have had to resign. He goes through some of the trackbacks and tries to score silly points with gotcha arguments that miss the main idea’s of the posts. With boobs like this how did Kerry get as many votes as he did? He tries in vain to take apart the trackbacks but he won’t take on what you wrote. If he thinks this lame smokescreen is going to make the crime and the coverup go away he is truly warped.
May 11, 2005 - 7:22 pm 51. Kevin P:Roger:
Ken Lay gave a lot of money to charity. Lets keep this Enron thing in perspective.
May 11, 2005 - 7:24 pm 52. Kyda Sylvester:This, I think, is a badge of great honor and a signal that you’ve drawn blood. Congratulations. Keep up the good work.
Interesting website. I was most curious to see how the UN was “Fighting the Global Maleria Epidemic”. From that press release:
To provide a coordinated international approach to fighting malaria, the Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM) was launched in 1998 by the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the World Bank.
and
On April 25, 2000, African leaders from 44 malaria-endemic countries met in Abuja, Nigeria for the first-ever African Summit on Malaria. At the summit, they signed the historic Abuja Declaration, which commits governments to an intensive effort to halve the burden in Africa by 2010.
There isn’t much in life that gets me more steamed than this. We have the means to eradicate from the face of the earth this dreadful, debilitating disease, which at one time was 80% contained. If the United Nations really wanted to fight (notice it didn’t say eliminate) maleria, instead of forming partnerships and holding summits, maybe it could lead the campaign to bring back DDT and actually get the damn job done.
May 11, 2005 - 7:51 pm 53. Luther McLeod:Roger
Re: The UN hit squad
Good for you. A number of us strode out on a different path almost four years ago. Damn near like learning how to walk again.
You are a brave man. Forgive me here if I overstep. It may be that you have no monetary worries, which does engender a certain freedom to act as one believes. And that’s OK. After all, if its good enough for Soro’s, it’s sure as hell good enough for you.
But beyond that, and more importantly, are family, friends and peers. It does take personal courage to strike out on a new (and very public) path as you have done.
I still, at times, doubt myself. After all, if I were naive enough to drink the kool-aid once, could I do it twice? But I think not, I think that this time it is for real. We, as a country, are facing perhaps the greatest threat to our continued existence as we have ever faced.
And, the greatest part of that danger is not someone named Abdul. It is those like we once were. It is those who have no capacity to change. No capacity to think in a different way. No capacity to view the world through differently colored glasses.
So, therefore, I salute you, and thank you for your work.
May 11, 2005 - 7:53 pm 54. Buddy Larsen:Kevin, there’s probably a professional crew working the comments. Money is no object; news reports yesterday announced Soro’s “Open Society Institute” recently procured thirty-some-odd million of your tax dollars for its scholarly works.
May 11, 2005 - 7:56 pm 55. Kevin P:Roger:
I went to their archives and started with the first of May and looked at all the posts up to today. There was nothing written about the scandall. In one transcript of a interview it was referenced to slightly but what was the main theme of the interview? That the UN is not getting credit for all the good things it does. I guess this is how they are going to handle the scandall.There were many jabs at Bolton of course.It looks like they are going to use the “Don’t look at that, look over here” routine.When you have the facts in your favor argue the facts, When you don’t attack the person who has the facts and use misdirection. They need help with their rabbit act.
May 11, 2005 - 8:04 pm 56. Buddy Larsen:Kyda!
May 11, 2005 - 8:05 pm 57. Kyda Sylvester:Oh, this is hilarious, Roger; now they want to know why you’re fixated on this subject. A better question, I think, is why have they become fixated on you?
May 11, 2005 - 8:07 pm 58. ajf:The UN’s blog follow-up post:Roger L. Simon: UN-Balanced Blogging, Part II:
Roger:
April 21, 2005: More Food-for-(Oil) Thought:
Given that it’s the U.N., I suspect the attack is malicious rather than the result of simple incompetence. Incompetent malice, but malice none the less. Probably trying to knock you down some before PJM is going full steam.
May 11, 2005 - 8:10 pm 59. Buddy Larsen:So what if you were ‘fixated’? You ain’t, but you could quite honorably be–these murky Demo skullduggeries will NEVER come to light without people such as you, Norm Coleman, O’Reilly, Hannity, & Claudia Rosett keeping the congress, TV, the press and the blogosphere tuned in. I don’t get around to rush Limbaugh much, but I’d imagine he keeps the radio folks up-to-date. Damn good thing, otherwise OFF’d be as dead–and unexposed–as the Clinton/Gore/Reno scandals (net of Monica).
May 11, 2005 - 8:21 pm 60. yama-arashi:Just read part two of the UN blog. The actors over there, Daou and DeShong ?, must be secret, secret double agents, planted into the bosom of the UN, and actually under the thumb of Rove, for how else to explain the utter stupidity of their attack on Roger. They “helped out” Kerry, wink, wink, nudge, nudge, and now they have moved onto their new assignment. Everyone just play along. Play along. In a few months we’ll all meet up at the secret location and have beers. Strategically this is just brilliant. But I must say the Daou/DeShong cell has gone a little overboard this time. The playbook, section nine, paragraph four, explicitly warns against excessive caricaturing of liberal types when playing them undercover. Which reminds me I’ve gotta talk to that Harry Reid guy too.
May 11, 2005 - 8:28 pm 61. Buddy Larsen:Yama, it thoroughly pisses me off how adroit you are in a second language! No wonder my GM bonds are suckin’ air!
May 11, 2005 - 8:40 pm 62. Kyda Sylvester:The Big Fixated.
Thanks, Buddy; I remember that discussion. This has been one of my personal soapboxes for years.
I don’t know on how many of those ubiquitous Millenium lists of “most important/influential/consequential people in the last 100/1000 years” Rachel Carson appeared, but she deserved on be on each and every one of them. Poor Rachel; I’m sure she never meant to do such harm.
May 11, 2005 - 8:40 pm 63. Buddy Larsen:The Fixated Falcon…The Postman is Always Fixated…Fixatedtown….
May 11, 2005 - 8:46 pm 64. yama-arashi:Buddy,
Just for the record, my second language is Japanese, of which I boastfully add I command better than I do English. But as a result of becoming so my mother’s tongue, English, has suffered greatly. Thus, no need to be pissed off, and in fact it would serve me right for you now to criticize my command of English as being mediocre. None of this will help your GM bonds I fear. Sorry.
May 11, 2005 - 8:57 pm 65. Buddy Larsen:Instapundit on the case!
May 11, 2005 - 8:59 pm 66. ploome:if the UN is getting anxious, you are doing a great job Roger.
and, you looked pretty good on TV the other day..
where was your hat?
May 11, 2005 - 9:06 pm 67. Buddy Larsen:Thanks, Yama–now I don’t feel so bad. My Spanish, you see, despite much adult study, reached its zenith when it could make a native listen to me a little less than utterly blankly. GM? Well, I have a 1976 Toyota Landcruiser that just won’t wear out despite rough use offroad. THAT’s what’s wrong with the bonds.
May 11, 2005 - 9:07 pm 68. yama-arashi:Buddy,
As usual you cut to the chase. You seem to be in the midst of a dilemma. If your bonds do a little better you might be able to afford a new truck, but your almost thirty year old truck is proof your bonds won’t be doing better. But you can’t fool me. I’m sure you have garages and garages full of all sorts of cars and trucks and gadgets.
Looking back over the sad attempt by the UN gang of two, it seems that 13 little talking points came down from high and they were told to spread them across the blogosphere and used Roger as their vehicle. In the end, when things are burning, the fiddlers always emerge. But this is a second grade recital and proof how absolutely lost the UN is. Annan’s new guy Brown, or Malloch-Brown, or something, seemed a fairly reasonable guy. Maybe we should ask him about this silliness. I sure hope this has peaked Lileks’s interest, I’d love to hear his rant.
To Roger, they have made you an issue, it would be great to have you and that pen of yours, aim yourselves at the belly of the beast. Make their cheap attempts at spinning an issue. Let them see what focusing on this issue really means. Do like our military, when ambushed, they organize and execute, in seconds flat, a counter-attack. If you decide to create a Cent-Com I’m sure many of us would be honored to serve. Are there any billboards for rent opposite the UN ? Where are the Protest Warriors? Communists for Kerry? Hugh’s blog teach-ins?Things have been pretty boring since the election, lets have some fun again!
May 11, 2005 - 9:49 pm 69. Jim C.:I’d love to trackback to these jackasses, but all I have is a blog on Blogger that I set up only so I could make comments at Althouse. Is it hard to set it up so I can trackback to these jerks? Any links to instructions?
May 11, 2005 - 10:26 pm 70. Sun-Tzu:It is striking to me that folks such as Daou would argue that one must take a balanced view of such things as the UN.
Ben, previously, suggested a similar line for, say, Richard Nixon.
I think that’s going too far back in time.
Let’s try some more recent examples:
The war in Iraq has brought about certain positive benefits—why is there so much focus on the unfortunate actions of what, at the end of the day, are minorities of minorities in the bombings?
The war in Afghanistan has undoubtedly brought about positive benefits for the vast majority of people—why is there so little coverage when there is no bleeding?
Dubya has brought about certain benefits for the American people (ultimately more jobs than when he started in office, frex), as well as abroad (see Afghanistan above)—why the focus on his TANG service?
But the whole thing reminds me of the scene in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” where Lancelot, having proven himself to be a rather bloodthirsty psycho BUT a member of royal court of Camelot, gets the local lord to tell the crowd “Not to focus on ‘oo killed ‘oo,” because, after all, there’s bigger things to think about than a dead bride or three!
May 11, 2005 - 10:29 pm 71. Buddy Larsen:Ha! The Monty Python Democrats…ya gotta take ‘em surrealiously. Powerline recaps the methodology of this trifling affair.
May 11, 2005 - 11:05 pm 72. Michael B:Old Grouch, thank you, I couldn’t think of the title and was too lazy at the time to look it up. I had forgotten that Sellers plays multiple characters in that flick, haven’t seen it in a long time. Though my favorite Sellers picture is ‘Being There’.
May 11, 2005 - 11:58 pm 73. Vexorg:If you’re wondering why your GM stock is in the tank, come take a look at my car. It’s an ‘84 Toyota Camry, and it looks like it’s had a bad run-in or two with a lightpost. It’s got a huge dent in the right rear quarter panel, the trunk won’t open anymore, some of the trim is missing, the interior upholstery is well past its prime, the driver’s window only rolls up half the time, and basically it looks like the biggest heap of junk you can imagine. Much to the chagrin of those who would see it replaced, the thing just keeps running. It’s got nearly 210K miles on it now, and I’m sure if it was worth the occasional repair costs I could probably get the thing to last to 300k. Somehow, I suspect that this car is bringing down the price of your GM stock (not to mention some of the neighbors’ property values.)
May 12, 2005 - 2:00 am 74. CapitalistKerry:Roger,
The US Rotary Club has been fighting polio since 1985. The UN joined the battle only after the Rotary had been alone for three years and shown great progress. Rotary?s total expenditures are in excess of $580 million. Just like UN hacks to try to take credit for other?s work.
link to just one source:
http://www.clubrunner.ca/Data/5370%5C399%5CHTML%5C191%5CVI-12%20.pdf
May 12, 2005 - 2:28 am 75. Larry BirdFlu:Why do so many people focus on Hitler killing Jews instead of all the nice roads he built?
May 12, 2005 - 3:29 am 76. HA:Roger,
In the next presidential campaign – in which I’ll presume there will be a Democrat running – it will be a delightful smear tactic to point out how many Democratic campaign staffers are really moonlighting on top of their UN day jobs.
They could be (rightfully) demagogued as the new Freemasons. A secret society that would control the US government from Turtle Bay if they could sneak their candidate into the White House.
May 12, 2005 - 4:18 am 77. Buddy Larsen:HA, you must have among other things this sort of UN-involved election-influencing “October Surprise” conspiracy in the back of your mind, neatly summarized here:
“Another scandal is the apparent attempt by Muhammed al-Baradei, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, to influence the presidential election with a letter (conveniently leaked to the press) alleging the disappearance of explosives from the al QaQaa storage facility in Iraq. This obvious attempt by a U.N. official to influence the American election (and complicity by many in the American press, The New York Times first among them) is outrageous.”
Also apropos your post, in the above link (written just pre-election):
“I believe this election will also be remembered for the scandalous discarding of the concept of a loyal opposition. James Geraghty of National Review points out that Americans of every major party have long held to the conviction that politics stops at the water’s edge. Though there have been bitterly fought contests in our nation’s past, candidates have been careful not to provide fodder for our enemies, or even for allies who have different interests than we do. Not anymore. “Over the last three years or so,” Geraghty says, “we have seen that concept obliterated. We’ve seen a truly unparalleled deluge of criticism of the president that went well beyond policy differences. He is tarred as a war criminal, a fool, an idiot, a warmonger, a man who trades blood for oil, a mass murderer of innocent civilians, a stooge of sinister corporate interests, a puppet of Cheney, a terrorist himself, the anti-Christ, the second coming of Hitler, a slave to Ariel Sharon, an anti-Muslim hatemonger? and I’m sure I’ve left out plenty.”
“Geraghty goes on: “This rhetoric has been picked up by the British left, the European left, the Arab press, and anti-American interests around the globe. And-to my knowledge-not one Democrat, not one voice on the left has said, ‘Hey, we know you hate Bush, but stay out of it. He’s our president, leave the criticism of him to us.’”
“He’s right. The release of a new video from Osama Bin Laden last week showed just how true Geraghty’s words are. Bin Laden seemed to echo the claims and criticisms of Mssrs. John Kerry and Michael Moore, as though he had seen Moore’s movie and read Kerry’s press releases. It was spooky to hear. Disgusting. And scandalous.”
I agree, the only question is, is a UN-based cabal running the DNC, or vice (and I DO mean ‘vice’) versa?
May 12, 2005 - 5:19 am 78. Buddy Larsen:No wonder the UN Foundation has hired presidential candidate Kerry’s “rapid-response” team; this is ONLY the at-the-time Foreign Minister of France and a Labour Party Member of Parliament. Thank you, Sen. Coleman; pray continue.
May 12, 2005 - 6:11 am 79. Buddy Larsen:Oops–that link was ’spose to be a Google summary list of related stories but it fritzed. This is Bloomberg on this morning’s headline.
May 12, 2005 - 6:19 am 80. Victor Eremita:The second posting on the UN website is astoundingly obtuse–they insist that no one is addressing their ‘argument’, which is only interested in asking why on earth Roger should be so ‘preoccupied’ with the UN Oil For Food debacle. They seem unaware that addressing the hypothetical ‘reasons why’ one’s opponent supposedly thinks what he thinks or is interested in what he’s interested in, is generally recognized as a shoddy way of AVOIDING substantive argument on the merits of the opponent’s case, not as a topic worthy of debate in and of itself. They might as well just put up a post calling Roger [pardon me] a sonofab*tch and a lying b*stard, and then insist with an offended sniff that no one’s responses ‘address their ‘argument”–Is he or is he not a sonofab*tch and a lying b*stard?
And presumably we are to believe that the guys who run the UN blog [Or the United Nations Foundation's blog--what exactly is the relationship there? Trivial point nonetheless] are a pair of purely disinterested psychology students interested in analyzing the deep mental scars from Roger’s and Ms. Rosett’s childhood which impel them to–how perverse!–feel righteous anger and a desire to see justice done when they see millions of dollars being siphoned off the funds meant for starving civilians under the auspices of an organization which likes to think of itself as the best hope for humanity. And any impression the rest of us might get that the UN blog folks themselves have a damn good and obvious reason for trying to discredit their critics is undoubtedly a sign that–oh, I don’t know–our parents didn’t love us enough.
May 12, 2005 - 6:31 am 81. Buddy Larsen:“…documents also indicate that Saddam’s government steered one of the deals with Galloway to the Mariam Appeal, a charity the politician originally founded to raise money for a 4-year-old Iraqi girl with leukemia.”
S*H*A*M*E*L*E*S*S*!
May 12, 2005 - 6:40 am 82. Rankinboy:Criminy,
Half the things they consider “UN” projects were things they wouldn’t be doing if A) we hadn’t invaded Afghanistan or Iraq, or B) if Australia, the U.S., etc. hadn’t taken the lead (Tsunami relief, etc.). Interesting how they’re more than happy to coopt something they voted against or couldn’t accomplish on their own if it takes some attention off of their own scew ups.
May 12, 2005 - 6:51 am 83. Mike_Nargizian:I don’t get it I thought this guy was kicked out of the Parliament by his own party for supposedly taking bribes? But now he is able to run again and win? I realize that in Britain they let you cherry pick any district you want to run in even if you don’t live there so he ran in one in the slums of London made up largely of Islamic immigrants and a Labour rep who voted for the War.
He wasn’t charged or convicted of anything in Britain? What’s the deal?
http://dailyscorecard.blogspot.com/2005/05/galloway-confronted-on-bbc-call-him.html
May 12, 2005 - 7:13 am 84. Mike_Nargizian:THAT’S GALLOWAY I MEAN (Roger’s last link)
May 12, 2005 - 7:14 am 85. Percy Dovetonsils:Being “under attack” by the UN is like being challenged to fisticuffs by Don Knotts. Somehow, it just doesn’t induce much in the way of chills.
Give ‘em hell, Roger!
May 12, 2005 - 7:18 am 86. Hovig:I just realized something. Here again we have a group of people who are prepared to say “you should ask yourself why they hate you so much” when the country is hit on 9/11, but can’t ask themselves the same.
The same group who, as represented most recently by an article in the NYT only a couple of days ago, insist America is suffering [economically, prestigiously, whateverically] because its “reputation is harmed” among the people of the world.
If Roger Simon is spending 20% of his time discussing the oil-for-food program, maybe the UN blog’s question should really be: “Gosh, is it that bad? Why does he hate us so much? Maybe we should think about how our reputation is being harmed.”
But of course that’ll never happen.
May 12, 2005 - 7:56 am 87. C.Y.:I cannot get over the fact that these bozos came back for more abuse after being so throughly discredited the first time around. They have some serious denial issues going on…
May 12, 2005 - 8:12 am 88. Tom O'Bedlam:There is now a “Part II” to the UN Dispatch post, concerning the “strong response” to the original post:
And not unexpectedly, the responses were largely dismissive, derisive, and betrayed a shallow reading of the original post.
Considering that the original post was — apart from the citations to Roger’s blog entries — six sentences long (two of the sentences two words or less), and consisted of nothing more than a cheap shot ad hominem argument, I find it rather presumptuous of the author to claim that there was any other reading of the original post except a shallow one.
The soi-disant “Dispatcher” of the UN Dispatch calls to mind the National Lampoon parody of “Desiderata,” which runs something like, “A walk through the ocean of most souls would scarcely get your feet wet.”
May 12, 2005 - 8:30 am 89. Supercat:It’s already getting hard to keep track of all the OFF shenanigans … to point out the obvious Roger, I hope you write a book about it.
May 12, 2005 - 8:33 am 90. SpaceMonkey:Roger,
I just hope they don’t [gasp] draft a strongly worded resolution against you.
Then you will truly face great peril.
May 12, 2005 - 8:53 am 91. jedrury:The full Senate report is revealing, well written and clear.
It is a tribute to Senator Coleman that he grasped the issue months ago, had his staff investigate, interviewed former Saddam officials, sought and got the cooperation of the difficult Senator Levin and prepared a damning report.
And, he led the attack on Kofi Annan months ago by calling for his resignation. A man of conscience in the Senate, maybe.
May 12, 2005 - 9:03 am 92. Achillea:richard mcenroe: Did I miss something, or did they not have a comments section for some inexplicable reason?
Given the comprehensive fiskings they’ve received, I don’t think it’s inexplicable at all.
May 12, 2005 - 9:29 am 93. PeterUK:This has all the appearance the defence of one accused of strangling his granny,he was kind to her cat.
There some good things about the UN,it is easy to spell and it is a negative prefix.
May 12, 2005 - 9:44 am 94. Jim Mc:The U.N.’s blog entry reminds me of something the Joker said in the first Batman movie, after the crime boss of the city was killed (by him):
“Now you fellas have said some pretty mean things. Some of which were true, under that fiend Boss Grissom. He was a thief, and a terrorist. On the other hand he had a tremendous singing voice.”
And the U.N. may be corrupt and wicked, but they have a tremendous singing voice…
May 12, 2005 - 9:51 am 95. Californio:Comrade/Companero Simon:
Your position of hostility towards the UN saddens your fraternal brothers across the world. Truly comrade, do you not see the good intentions of the United Nations? Indeed, are you against the very of idea of “Nations” “United” in their march towards international fraternity? Yessss, there Maaaay be frequently occurring isolated multiple incidents of “misguided” , um, illegal and/or exploitative behavior. But the UN is not expressing Imperialism like the US! It is, merely, sometimes showing structural incompetency in working towards its noble mission of self perpetuation. [Wait, did I say that last part out loud?]
Please forward appropriate evidence of contrition to the United Nations for your trangression of thought crime. Why must you hate the UN for its trying to do “good”?
May 12, 2005 - 10:59 am 96. Percy Dovetonsils:I just hope they don’t [gasp] draft a strongly worded resolution against you.
Oh my word… Roger, Hans Blix isn’t pacing on your front lawn, is he?
If so, pronounce his last name “Brix” while talking to him, and see what response you get.
May 12, 2005 - 11:31 am 97. Oyster:Kevin P. – Trust me, like any Part II, the first movie is better. As soon as I saw Juan Cole’s name pop up I thought, “There goes the neighborhood!”
May 12, 2005 - 12:23 pm 98. Buddy Larsen:Anyone so insufferably pedantic and hubris-soaked, that also has a record of being so massively wrong about the nation that coddles him, and so massively wrong often about so many rammed-down-our-throats predictions of future events in his area of highly-paid professional expertise, but yet who still bulls on ahead with more of the same, as if there is no such thing as history and memory, deserves to be Juan Cole.
May 12, 2005 - 12:59 pm 99. Buddy Larsen:“…wrong *so* often….” (yes, mr. preview, yes)
May 12, 2005 - 1:03 pm 100. Vail Beach:I was curious about one of Daou’s links to “good works” by the UN that Roger has ignored; that of restoring Iraq’s marshlands, the destruction of which was not only an epochal environmental catastrophe, but effectively genocide of the Marsh Arabs.
http://www.ipsnews.net/new_nota.asp?idnews=28493
The link is to a story from the Inter Press Service News Agency, and it is riotously, deliciously biased. In essence, it blames the draining of the marsh on a)the “U.S.-led coalition” that waged the first Gulf War; b) the British, who in the 1950s drew up the plans to drain the marshlands that Hussein used. c) Shi’ite rebels and deserters from Hussein’s army, who used the marshlands as a hideout, forcing Hussein’s hand. I mean, what’s a poor dictator to do?
Who gets the credit for the restoration? According to this article, the U.S. did invade in March 2003 and “breached” the dykes, causing reflooding of about 20 percent of the area. The way the writer puts it, it sounds like a fortuitous accident, collateral damage that had an unanticipated positive effect.
The credit then is firmly given to the UN Ministry of Water Resources. What did they do? They had a meeting about it!
The story also notes that the United Nations Environmental Project was “the first” to alert the world to the drainage disaster via satellite images (whose satellites?). Now, they are “playing an active role in capacity building and promoting sustainable development in the area.”
But, isn’t the bottom line the fact that, despite UNEP’s satellite images and its warnings to the world, the UN opposed the US-led invasion?
The story does give some credit to U.S.-based nonprofits, the Iraq Foundation and the Eden Again Project. But no love for the U.S. military, without which the marshlands would be nowhere nearer to restoration today, and all credit to the UN, which didn’t want the Marsh Arabs to get any help from anyone.
It might be fun to jump to all the links on the UN Dispatch site and scan all the stories. Maybe Daou’s right. Maybe attention should be paid to what the UN says they’re doing to save the world.
May 12, 2005 - 2:02 pm 101. Buddy Larsen:Rather than the odd bit of mediacentric after-the-fact cleanup-posing over the smoking bleeding ruins of many dozens of in-living-memory genocidal maniacs, maybe the UN ought to be listening to Condi.
May 12, 2005 - 2:04 pm 102. Buddy Larsen:Claudia Rosett, hot off the press!
May 12, 2005 - 5:42 pm 103. HA:Buddy,
HA, you must have among other things this sort of UN-involved election-influencing “October Surprise” conspiracy in the back of your mind
Yup. And Let’s not forget the “September Surprise” either:
Then Kerry was asked about Kofi Annan’s description of the war in Iraq as an “illegal” invasion. Kerry answered: “I don’t know what the law, the legalities are that he’s referring to. I don’t know.” So the U.S. government is accused of breaking international law, and Kerry chooses not to defend his country against the charge, or to label it ridiculous or offensive. He is agnostic.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/004/672upfks.asp
Kofi Annan?s ill-timed comments should be seen as a poorly conceived attempt to undercut the U.S. President?s impending address to the U.N. General Assembly and to indirectly influence the electoral debate in the United States. The notion of U.S. isolation, a prominent theme advanced by Senator John Kerry, is a myth that Annan is keen to promote on the world stage.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/InternationalOrganizations/wm567.cfm
May 13, 2005 - 4:00 am