For those who may have missed it, this report from John Solomon and Desmond Butler details how “Annan Failed to Disclose Key Contacts.” Of course it’s not difficult for me to know what those contacts are without even reading article. I can’t tell you how odd it has been for me, a lifetime novelist and screenwriter, to have been privy to information, some of which I have been asked to keep confidential, that could lead to the downfall of the Secretary General of the United Nations. It’s not exactly like keeping secret somebody’s deal at Warner Brothers. In any case, for those who still are not up-to-speed on this sad story, the gist is here:
Annan’s omissions last November raised credibility concerns with the chief investigator, Robert Parton, that persisted even after Annan later provided his recollections about the meetings. Investigators had uncovered the contacts in calendars recovered from computers, according to interviews and documents reviewed by The Associated Press.
Parton sought to make an issue of Annan’s veracity, concluding the U.N. chief wasn’t initially forthcoming and his story evolved as new facts emerged. Parton also noted Annan’s account sometimes conflicted with other witnesses deemed credible. Drafts of Parton’s report, however, were substantially revised.
The three-member committee that supervised Parton used a different tone when it laid out the discrepancies in the version of the report released to the public two months ago. “He had checked the records and now remembered the meeting,” the final report said about one of the meetings Annan hadn’t originally disclosed.
The final report also didn’t mention that Annan had originally denied knowing one of his son’s business associates with whom he had had lunch. Nor did it mention that the business associate testified that he specifically discussed Kojo Annan’s interest in doing business in Iraq with the U.N. chief.
Lanny Davis, known to most of us as one of Clinton’s more skillfull defenders during the impeachment period, is now Parton’s attorney in this matter. I would be curious to know what Davis, a life long liberal the way this apostate blogger was, thinks about the situation in Turtle Bar. There was no greater pillar of the liberal church than the UN. When I was young I revered it and the people who worked there. Well, la vie continue, does it not? What can one say?
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7 Comments
1. Rick Ballard:What can one say?
Wouldn’t it be lovely if there were an incantation that one might murmur that would restore to life all those killed by the very best of intentions?
Perhaps “Never again.” might do.
May 14, 2005 - 12:43 am 2. Steve M:I’m sure that there’s a movie here – perhaps from the blogging perspective. How about it, Roger?
May 14, 2005 - 1:16 am 3. jedrury:Anyone carefully reading Volcker’s # 2 report could sense the finessing on these points about Annan and his jogged memory about the various meetings.
This story, presumably leaked by Parton/Davis, can only attain critical mass if information comes to light suggesting more than Parton’s argument over the nuanced wording of Volcker Report #2.
May 14, 2005 - 1:56 am 4. HA:Roger,
I would be curious to know what Davis, a life long liberal the way this apostate blogger was, thinks about the situation in Turtle Bar. There was no greater pillar of the liberal church than the UN. When I was young I revered it and the people who worked there.
You, sir, are not only a liberal but you have only just become one. Empricism is the heart of liberalism. The UN is clearly a failed experiment. Those who cling to a misplaced FAITH in the UN in spite of the overwhelming emprical evidence of its failure forfeit any claim on liberalism. On the contrary, they are utopian mystics chasing an illusion. Real liberals should embrace the one thing that has empirically proven to advance peace, prosperity and liberty in this word – American military might wielded by a just even if imperfect people.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Locke
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empiricists
An interesting note on the Locke Wikipedia entry is that apparently his most notable detractor is none other than Howard Zinn. Is it any wonder that a Godfather of contemporary Marxism would attack a Godfather of traditional Liberalism?
What we call “liberalism” today is really Marxism. It is the opposite of liberal. It is anti-liberal. That is why Gramscian Marxists like Zinn attack it.
May 14, 2005 - 4:50 am 5. chuck:Roger,
I can’t say that I remember all the meetings I’ve had with people, so the spin of the report is not unreasonable on the face of it. I’m with jedrury on this: it will take strong evidence of systematic forgetfulness to bring this to a head. Like Parton, I am naturally suspicious, but more evidence is needed.
May 14, 2005 - 6:23 am 6. David:“Turtle Bar”? Actually that may be an accurate assesment of the situation.
May 14, 2005 - 8:09 am 7. vnjagvet:Some meetings might be inferred to be more memorable than others. Especially those in which one’s son is potentially/actually interested.
Of course “lapses of memory” are sometimes precipitated by wishful thinking.
IMO, Lanny Davis is smart, honest, shrewd resourceful and media savvy. This will be more fun now that he is representing Bolton.
May 14, 2005 - 10:20 am