 Relieved at the end of a "horrible year," Secretary-General Kofi Annan insisted Tuesday he has no intention of resigning over an embattled U.N. program to aid Iraqis and will pursue sweeping reforms in his remaining two years in office.
| Gonna clean up your mess, Kofi? Or get rid of the evidence? |
At a year-end news conference, the secretary-general said allegations of corruption in the oil-for-food program had "cast a shadow" over the United Nations and especially over the U.N. relations with the United States, the world body's largest financial contributor. While Annan said he had "the confidence and support" of the 191 U.N. member states, he said the criticism and attacks in the United States have not helped the U.S.-U.N. relationship, and expressed hope the oil-for-food investigation led by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker will "help clear the air."
| Depending on the selection of evidence turned over to him, I suppose that's a possibility. The rest can go into the shredder. |
"The United States needs the United Nations and the United Nations needs the United States," the secretary-general said. "And we need to find a way of working together."
| The United States has had it demonstrated rather forcefully that it doesn't need the United Nations, that in fact the UN is a bucket on the national foot. Kofi, on the other hand, has the larger problem of the weight of his record. Not only is he demonstrably incompetent as an administrator, but people are looking more closely at his actions with regard to Rwanda and now Darfur. Then there's the food-for-nookie program, that could also blow up at any moment. That's not a pretty picture, either. I don't have too much confidence in the press, but it's possible some aspiring Claudia Rosset will have a quick look at other Kofi Kronies besides his offspring. I'll be very surprised if they don't find a Ghana mafia making money hand over fist and none of them more than twice removed from Kofi. |
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