Posted on 03/29/2005 9:27:38 PM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials voiced cautious support for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday, saying they did not know where an inquiry into the U.N. oil-for-food program may lead or whether Annan would survive it.
The independent probe led by former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker on Tuesday cleared Annan of interfering in the award of a contract under the scandal-plagued oil-for-food program in Iraq to a firm that employed his son.
However, the investigation faulted Annan for not having investigated possible conflicts of interest properly.
"Secretary-General Annan and the United States share a common commitment to working together to reforming the United Nations, and we will support him in his efforts to do that," said State Department spokesman Adam Ereli.
"This is a very serious matter," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. "Congress has been looking into it as well. We continue to support the United Nations. We continue to support Secretary-General Annan in his work at the United Nations."
Privately, U.S. officials said Washington did not know where the investigation would lead and the administration would therefore be circumspect in its comments about Annan.
"You don't know how it's going to play out. There are still other reports to come. There could be additional information about culpability. There could be a significant backlash within the organization. So I think it requires caution," said a U.S. official who asked not to be named.
"I don't think there is any intentional desire to undercut him but this is an ongoing investigation and we have to see how it plays out," the official added.
Asked if he would resign as some U.S. congressmen have demanded, Annan told a news conference, "Hell no!"
Richard Holbrooke, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Annan should not step down.
"It would be a tremendous mistake for him to resign," Holbrooke said in a telephone interview. "The people who are calling for his resignation are really trying to destroy the U.N. because there's no quick succession process. The institution would be paralyzed for a long time to come."
While there has long been hostility toward the U.N. among conservative Republicans, there is also a grudging acceptance in the party that it has its uses and some congressmen seized on the oil-for-food inquiry's report to argue for U.N. reform.
"Gross mismanagement by U.N. senior leaders poses the most grave and immediate threat to the effectiveness and integrity of the institution," Rep. Henry Hyde (news, bio, voting record), an Illinois Republican who chairs the House International Relations Committee, said.
"In the wake of the oil-for-food scandal, the world has a unique and precious opportunity to undertake reform," he said.
..that might not necessarily be a bad thing with their track record the last 50 years.
Paul Volcker delivered his latest report on the investigation into the United Nations oil-for-food program, in New York, March 29, 2005. U.S. officials voiced cautious support for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday, saying they did not know where the inquiry may lead or whether Annan would survive it. (Chip East/Reuters)
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, seen here January 2005, said he was cleared of wrongdoing by an independent enquiry into the Iraq oil-for-food programme and vowed he would not resign.(AFP/File/Marco Longari)
Paul A. Volcker, Chairman of the Independent Inquiry into the United Nations Oil-for-Food Program, arrives at the United Nations headquarters in New York to meet with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.(AFP/Timothy A. Clary)
No mention of the seven months of shredding documents. Guess Kofi went to the Hillary School of Defense.
The UN is a farce.
Is this report posted on the Internet?
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