In this kind of situation, normally <font size=4>the media<font size=3> would be
on his neck, calling for the most thorough investigation
possible; but thus far, with the exception of The Wall
Street Journal, The New York Post and a handful of others,
they <font size=4>have been curiously silent.<font size=3>
The Buck Stops Where
Roger L Simon Blog
ABC News claims to have found a smoking gun in the UNSCUM/UNSCAM/Oil-for-Food Scandal that directly implicates Benon Sevan, the UN undersecretary general who ran the program for six years:
"In the letter, dated Aug, 10, 1998, an Iraqi oil executive mentions a request by a Panama-based company, African Middle East Petroleum Co., to buy Iraqi oil — along with a suggestion that Sevan had a role in the deal. "Mr. Muwafaq Ayoub of the Iraqi mission in New York informed us by telephone that the abovementioned company is the company that Mr. Sevan cited to you during his last trip to Baghdad," the executive wrote in Arabic.
A handwritten note indicated that permission for the oil purchase was granted by "the Vice President of the Republic" on Aug. 15, 1998.
The second page of the letter contains a table entitled "Quantity of Oil Allocated and Given to Mr. Benon Sevan." The table lists a total of 7.3 million barrels of oil as the "quantity executed" — an amount that, if true, would have generated an illegal profit of as much as $3.5 million."
Although Sevan has been on leave of absence from the UN since the scandal broke early this year, his boss Kofi Anan has resisted investigating what is probably the biggest aid heist of all time until a couple of weeks ago. In this kind of situation, normally the media would be on his neck, calling for the most thorough investigation possible; but thus far, with the exception of The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post and a handful of others, they have been curiously silent. As a supporter of the United Nations (yes, I believe it necessary), I find this potentially immensely destructive to the organization. If the Oil-for-Food allegations are true, and it increasingly looks as if they are, without a deep and full bloodletting (probably including the resignation of Annan) the UN will never recover the confidence of the American people, nor should it. By not being on this with Watergate-style intensity, the media is aiding and abetting the downfall of the organization they wish to save.
rogerlsimon.com |
