Posted on 12/08/2004 2:55:16 PM PST by GeneD
Twenty-one Member [sic] of Congress, led by Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH), sent a letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell today in support of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
The letter states:
We are writing to express our support of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who has recently been under attack by some American lawmakers for the U.N’s Oil-for-Food program scandal occurring under his watch. Such an attack on the second-term Secretary-General and Nobel Peace laureate is disgraceful and premature. There has been no hint of impropriety on the part of the Secretary-General, who on numerous occasions has proven his honesty and integrity. Furthermore, we specifically reject all calls for his resignation.
In order to address the allegations of mismanagement of the Oil-for-Food Program, Secretary-General Annan appropriately appointed an independent panel led by Chairman Paul Volcker, former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, to investigate the allegations. The panel is comprised of members independent to the U.N. and has unrestricted access to all relevant U.N. records and information, including interviews with all relevant U.N. officials and personnel, regardless of seniority.
Secretary-General Annan made his intentions for complete transparency unmistakably clear on April 15, 2004 when he said, "Transparency is the only way to deal with allegations [like those surrounding the Oil-for-Food Program], and by far the best way to prevent corruption from happening in the first place. That, I believe, will be one of the main lessons we have to learn from this affair, whatever the outcome of the inquiry."
We support the investigation called for by the Secretary-General and headed up by Chairman Volcker and encourage the Administration to support this independent investigation as well.
In the wake of heavy criticism against Secretary General Annan, we want to highlight the shared responsibility by the United States for the alleged fraud and abuse that occurred in the Oil-for-Food Program. The responsibility and enforcement capacity for checking unauthorized oil sales was provided to all UN Member States, of which the United States is one, and in the Gulf area, to the multinational Maritime Interception Force (MIF). The role of oversight for all contracts awarded under the Oil-for-Food Program belonged to the Security Council’s 661 Committee, of which the U.S. had a representative for the entire duration of the Program. The UN’s Office of Internal Oversight undertook regular program audits and the program’s escrow account was audited every six months by external auditors.
It should also be noted that the majority of Saddam’s stolen revenues came from illicit oil trade deals outside of the Oil-for-Food Program with Jordan, Syria and Turkey. According to the Duelfer Report, nearly 75 percent of Iraq’s illicit income during the sanctions period was generated through oil sales to Iraqi’s neighbors. According to Senator Carl Levin, senior democrat on the Permanent Subcommittee to investigate the Oil-for-Food scandal, Iraq’s ongoing oil sales to its neighbors were no secret. The United States and the other nations in the United Nations knew of them and deliberately let the trade continue, presumably to maintain the support of Iraq’s neighboring countries for the sanctions and to attain other foreign policy objectives.
In 1994, Congress barred U.S. foreign aid to any country violating the Iraqi sanctions unless the President issued a waiver, but both the Clinton and Bush administrations issued waivers year after year to allow Jordan and Turkey to keep getting U.S. foreign aid despite their sending billions to Saddam. The United States also failed to take any meaningful action to stop Syria’s illegal trade with Iraq.
The condemnation of Secretary-General Annan and the call for his resignation are inappropriate. We urge the Administration to voice confidence for the Secretary General to help quell premature backlash and to support in good faith the independent investigation carried out by Chairman Volcker.
Joining Kucinich on the letter were Reps. Watson (D-CA), Lee (D-CA), Davis (D-IL), Hinchey (D-NY), Woolsey (D-CA), Solis (D-CA), Brown (D-OH), McDermott (D-WA), Clay (D-MO), Filner (D-CA), Stark (D-CA), Serrano (D-NY), Baldwin (D-WI), Farr (D-CA), Olver (D-MA), Sanders (I-VT), Miller (D-CA), Rodriguez (D-TX), Kleczka (D-WI), and Jackson-Lee (D-TX).
There has not only been a hint, there have been lots of big fat hints, plural.
No surprise to see Bagdad Jim McDermott on the list.
Why am I surprised to see Kelczka from WI on the list? I must be confusing him with someone else.
As Pelosi says, Democrats have never been more united. Who could argue with her? It is the natural result of ousting everyone who disagrees.
You can bring a donkey to water, but you can't make it drink -- unless it's Kool-Aid.
And that, my friends, will be the key to victories, possibly for decades to come.
Isn't it Sanders (C-Vt) or Sanders (S-Vt)?
I wonder how the list cross checks with the 'socialist in congress' list?
Barf Bump.
I think the same thing, Betty Jane! The dem-lib-socialists are afraid of a REAL investigation. Might unearth stuff we haven't even thought of!!
Is this true? I found the thought of it so disgusting, I didn't bother to watch the segment.
Did anyone see it?
Sorry ... I have not watched (or listened to) Mr. O'Reilly since last year.
My psychiatrist says that is has helped my condition, and that soon, if am able to click the TV remote past Chris Matthews and Tim Russert without stopping, he will let me out for the weekends. ;)
LOL! And, if you can click the remote past 'This Week Without David Brinkley' and 'Slay The Nation' you can take a month's vacation to Australia.
;-)
Speaking of your condition.........you may want to check out this.
*****
Holland: Disaster in Waiting
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1300988/posts
Arutz Sheva ^ 12-14-04 | Arlene Peck
(excerpt)
My kid, Dana, once told me, "Mom, if you don't get away from watching the news, you're going to have to get on medication." She is right; if I did not have my columns, speaking engagements and television show to blow off steam, I would be in big trouble.
On good days, I head to the gym and try to work out the hostilities.
Thanks for the link.
I'd say Arlene Peck has it wired.
I have a Dutch couple living across the street from me. They are vactioners who have the dough to afford a home here.
I really must ask them what they think of this Islamic scourge, though I probably will get the same B/S that Arlene got.
Still, I owe them an introduction to a "Cro-Magnum" kind of American.
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