Posted on 04/30/2005 6:14:31 PM PDT by blam
Annan talks of 'lynch mob' determined to destroy him
By Charles Laurence in New York and Philip Sherwell in Washington
(Filed: 01/05/2005)
Kofi Annan, the beleaguered secretary-general of the United Nations, has claimed that a "lynch mob" is out to "destroy" him in the wake of the Iraq oil-for-food debacle and other UN scandals.
In his first big interview since he was criticised in a report into the discredited oil-for-food scheme, which the UN administered, Mr Annan refused to rule out stepping down in the autumn, a year before his second term is due to end.
Some diplomats believe that Mr Annan will remain in charge only until September, when he is due to present his draft for UN reform to the Security Council.
"That's a question for the future," Mr Annan told New York magazine. "In life, you cannot rule out, you cannot say never or forever."
The interim Volcker Committee report, published at the end of March, looked into any role played by Kofi Annan and his son, Kojo, a businessman, in the hiring of a Swiss inspection firm, Cotecna, to monitor goods sent to Iraq under the $60 billion (£31.4 billion) oil-for-food programme.
During the interview, Mr Annan talked about the embarrassment caused by Kojo, who told his father that he no longer worked for Cotecna after the contract was granted when in fact he carried on as a consultant, paid about $400,000 (£210,000).
According to the Volcker report, Kojo also used his father's name to get business.
The secretary-general said that he had learnt the truth only last November.
"I've talked to him about coming clean with everything he knows, no surprises," Mr Annan told the magazine.
"I'm suffering on various levels. As a secretary-general and as a father dealing with his son. It's all very heavy and difficult.
"There hasn't been too much to laugh about. There have been those difficult periods when you wonder, 'What's it all about and where are we going?'
''I've been under pressure for how many years now? Almost 15 years. I can handle the pressure but certain things touch you."
Mr Annan, who said that his son had apologised, is still trying to understand his behaviour. "I have no theories," he said. "You know, it's incredible when you see these little children. You carry them in your arms and lead them along the way. And over time, they develop their own personalities and become their own person. Of course, he maintains he did nothing wrong. Even now."
In all, six committees in the Senate and House of Representatives are poring over different elements of the oil-for-food scandal, which erupted over the illicit sale of Iraqi oil in what was supposed to be an aid programme. They have unique influence over the UN because Washington controls 80 per cent of the organisation's budget.
The interim report by the Volcker commission, appointed by the UN to investigate the scandal, found "no evidence" of improper influence by Mr Annan in the bidding or selection process that awarded the contract to Cotecna. It did find him guilty of complacency, saying that his office's investigation into the links between Kojo and Cotecna had been "inadequate".
Although Mr Annan declared that he had been exonerated, two senior invest-igators resigned from the Volcker commission after the report was published because they feared a "de facto cover-up". One of the three chairs of the commission, Mark Pieth, also said he felt that the report played down critical findings.
In a move that will add to the pressure on Mr Annan, congressional investigators in Washington are to question a witness who claims that there has been a cover-up over the Annan family's role in the oil-for-food scandal.
Pierre Mouselli, a former business partner of Kojo, will fly to Washington from his base in Paris next month.
He is expected to tell the investigators that he had lunch with the secretary-general in South Africa in 1998, at which the younger Annan's business links with Iraq were allegedly discussed. He gave similar testimony to the Volcker committee but his evidence was played down in the interim report.
Last week, a spokesman for Kofi Annan said that the secretary-general would not add to the version of events he had given the Volcker committee, in which he could recall no discussion of his son's dealings involving Iraq during his meeting with Mr Mouselli.
The UN spokesman said: "The secretary-general's answers are in the latest report into the oil-for-food programme. The committee has also indicated that it will continue to examine Kojo Annan's business affairs. We will have no further comment at this time.''
A spokesman for the UN Secretariat said yesterday: "Mr Annan is not thinking of quitting. He has made it clear that he intends to dedicate the last two years of his term to his reform programme for the United Nations."
My concious mind missed it, those subliminal u.n. bastards. Good catch. The last vestige of the guilty.
What do you expect from an organization that hired a Nazi like Kurt Waldheim to be Secretary General.
Lynching? Nah?
Can anybody bring a nice barrel of hot tar and some feathers?
I've got the rail.
Your winnings, sir
Played the race card. Totally predictable.
I'm thinking more of Piracy - Make Annon walk the plank, then grab the helm and turn 'er around.
Stay Kofi, stay! Your credibility is zilch but you haven't finished destroying the corrupt united nations.
"Kofi Annan, the beleaguered secretary-general of the United Nations, has claimed that a "lynch mob" is out to "destroy" him in the wake of the Iraq oil-for-food debacle and other UN scandals."
Annan fostered antagonism and hatred toward America throughout the great "global test" fields. In fact, without shame and with dishonesty, Annan blamed the U.S. for millions of starving Iraqi children, and the BLAME is on him - where the "buck stops."
Where Annan's arrogance and guilt converge, his paranoia sets in. May all the nightmares of "lynch mobs" visit Annan's sleep every night. Kofi is a flickin'fake, a corrupt silk-suited pseudo-humanitarian, a contemptible elite who leeches-off UN funds to pursue his aristocratic lifestyle. Annan is pure drek. Annan's tenure has destroyed whatever viability the UN ever had. His leadership? Holding meetings, meetings, meetings; assigning reports, reports, reports; attempting to recognize and define "genocide" while millions starve and die. The UN will never recover the course of its original charter unless the flickin international elites are eliminated from its membership. Assign to the UN zealous hands-on Salvation Army and Peace Corps types rather than these corrupt appointees of self-serving nepotism. Ugh!
Just think what WE Americans could have achieved with the funds wasted on the UN! Makes me sick! Just what is the UN doing for the Tsunami victims? Meeting again in the air-conditioned rooms in the NY building??? Eating in posh gourmet restaurants while musing on the world's starving populations? Being transported in stretch-limos to deliver an impassioned speech on pollution in the environment and global warming?
Makes me sick to think of the UN and its *elite* members.
(Just have to vent my contempt for Annan and the UN!)
WHAT a blessing Bolton would be...
he has been talking to bill clinton again.
"Mr Annan, who said that his son had apologised, is still trying to understand his behaviour."
How about - like father, like son?
How about - "apologised"??? Does an apology really suffice? How about true pentinance? Like wading the entire croc-filled Nile River?
Criminals and the corrupt can "apologize" to the high heavens after the fact, but their punishments should fit their offenses.
You're thinking of Mexico...
Yeah...That one, too!
I thought it was code for Je$$e and Rev Al to come to his rescue. If so, Kofi will just hit up his son Kujo to write out two big checks and that'll be the end of the problems.
ahh - with all the very real evidence of not only unethical, but criminality = there is little noise coming form the libs in the senate about Kofi and gang - they're too busy spending months trying to get rid of Delay on a trumped up "appearance" of unethical behavior. They even have the gall to say, with a straight face, that Delay hasn't done anything illegal - can't even claim he did anything unethical...but the "appearance" - which is smoke and mirrors.
Is Kofi et al living in the same universe/time plane I am??
well gee, what more should we want?
ahh, hey Dad - didn't you give kojo an office by yours in the UN - what did you think he was doing? And how did he get the contacts, daddy?
Short of quitting the UN and kicking them out (pipe dream), I wonder if Bolton will even be able to make a difference. Sure, he's the right man for the job over anyone else, but can one man make a difference with the corruption being so large scale? I hope so, but it just seems like this global criminal organization is beyond redemption.
That being said, what do you think Bush should do in the event that the nomination fails. I was thinking he could do one of three things.
1) Ask Rep. Ron Paul to quit his day job and take the post
2) refuse to nominate anyone else and leave the post vacant
3) recess appointment at the next opportunity and force them to vote him out.
They were all disloyal. I tried to run the ship properly by the book, but they fought me at every turn …But they encouraged the crew to go around, scoffing at me and spreading wild rumors about steaming in circles and then 'Old Yellowstain…. Ah, but the strawberries! That's, that's where I had them.
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