Tuesday, November 23, 2004

How many straws does it take?

As a follow-up on my previous post on Mr. Annan and the UN, this in from Reuters.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 22 (Reuters) - The United Nations is investigating
about 150 allegations of sexual abuse by U.N. civilian staff and soldiers in the
Congo, some of them recorded on videotape, a senior U.N. official said on
Monday.....More
here
.

Why has this not been more widely reported? Oh yeah, I almost forgot, Kobe Bryant and Scott Peterson plus the Basketbrawl stories are more newsworthy. What was I thinking? Trivia like this news about the UN, and Darfur and the good news out of Iraq and Afghanistan pale in comparison to "hard hitting news stories". I almost forgot too about Rather "resigning" and Klien being the new head of CNN News.

Meanwhile back at the rant, I bring you this on the OFF.

"....For many months, allegations have been circulating about the
complicity of U.N. officials in Saddam's trickery, including the son of U.N.
Secretary General Kofi Annan. For his part, Annan has so far refused
Congressional requests calling for U.N. witnesses to testify on their handling
of the Oil for Food program. Annan says he is conducting his own internal
investigation and will cooperate when he is ready.
Such contempt of the rule
of law by the U.N. is revealing. Published reports have suggested that as many
as 270 U.N. and foreign officials may be caught up in the Oil for Food scandal,
including those from some of the nations which opposed U.S. military operations
in Iraq - France and Russia.
It was Annan himself who told a BBC reporter in
September that the Coalition invasion of Iraq last year was "illegal." Last
week, it was suggested at congressional hearings that Benon Sevan, the U.N.
official in charge of overseeing the Oil for Food program, could have benefited
from the under-the-table deals with Saddam....."

Happy Thanksgiving....Tom