Tuesday, September 12, 2006

It takes a thief

So the dejected John Bolton, on behalf of the good American people, is threatening again to deny funding to the UN unless they fix their corrupt ways.

"Is good management and lack of corruption too much to ask for?" he asked, calling the United Nations "severely challenged from a management and accountability point of view."

Bloody good point John boy, and interesting in the light of allegations about the US made by a former high-ranking official in the United Nations Iraq Oil for Food program.

The official, who has intimate knowledge of the Oil for Food finances and has asked for confidentiality, claims that the Coalition Provisional Authority, headed by L. Paul "Jerry" Bremer, was left "$10 billion in unencumbered cash" by the United Nations.

Ten? And here I was looking for nine billion. But one billion aside, this report has been around for months now and the US authorities are simply ignoring it, not even bothering with denial.

In a report by former U.N. investigator Paul Volcker, it is stated that on several occasions, CPA officials in Baghdad refused any cooperation with his accountants seeking Oil for Food records.

Volcker also charged that on numerous other occasions, CPA officials shredded documents being sought in the U.N. investigation.

So in effect, the money Bolton is threatening to hold back was stolen from the UN in the first place, by the 'holier than thou' US administration.

All I can say is it takes a thief to know a thief!

2 comments:

Reality-Based Educator said...

Spot on right, cartledge. But if we've learned anything these days, it's this: Republicans don't car eif you've caught them in a lie or caught them red-handed stealing. They just stick to the story and repeat it so often ("We had to invade Iraq, We had to invade Iraq...")that finally most people give up trying to reason with them.

Unfortunately, they keep getting their way.

Cartledge said...

I guess it never does to be the ones who see the king is really naked.