Monday, November 15, 2004
Oil For Food?
$21 billion was diverted by Saddam to himself and his friends, according to the Senate committee investigating the scandal. And that figure is just what the committee staff can verify with documentation. According to the committee, Saddam used the money to, um, encourage people in the right places to support him, and prevent the US from getting UNSC approval for the Iraq war. In particular, the committee says, Saddam targeted France, Russia and China.
Is my memory faulty, or didn't someone recently say something about "the coalition of the bribed?"
The UN is reportedly stonewalling and not cooperating with the senate committee, and in fact is actively hindering the committee's investigation into the Oil for Food Scandal. When this story is told in its entirety, the UN will be exposed for what it is -- a debating club for despots. Without drastic and obvious changes in that organization, any US candidate who proposes to let the UN have any say whatsoever over US international policy -- even as an "advisor" -- will be laughed out of the country.
If there were an alternative organization that could actually accomplish something, I'd vote for leaving the UN, and kicking the whole organization out of the US. It costs us a lot more than any benefit it returns. In the meantime, I guess it's good for keeping tabs on those debating despots.
Is my memory faulty, or didn't someone recently say something about "the coalition of the bribed?"
The UN is reportedly stonewalling and not cooperating with the senate committee, and in fact is actively hindering the committee's investigation into the Oil for Food Scandal. When this story is told in its entirety, the UN will be exposed for what it is -- a debating club for despots. Without drastic and obvious changes in that organization, any US candidate who proposes to let the UN have any say whatsoever over US international policy -- even as an "advisor" -- will be laughed out of the country.
If there were an alternative organization that could actually accomplish something, I'd vote for leaving the UN, and kicking the whole organization out of the US. It costs us a lot more than any benefit it returns. In the meantime, I guess it's good for keeping tabs on those debating despots.
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