http://www.commentarymagazine.com/...
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/

For years, the United Nations Oil-for-Food program
was just one more blip on the multilateral landscape: a relief program
for Iraq, a way to feed hungry children in a far-off land until the
world had settled its quarrels with Saddam Hussein. Last May, after the
fall of Saddam, the UN Security Council voted to lift sanctions on
Iraq, end Oil-for-Food later in the year, and turn over any remaining
business to the U.S.-led authority in Baghdad. On November 20, with
some ceremony, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan lauded the program's
many accomplishments, praising in particular its long-serving executive
director, Benon Sevan. The next day, Oil-for-Food came to an end. 

But it has not ended. Suddenly, Oil-for-Food is
with us again, this time splashed all over the news as the subject of
scandal at the UN: bribes, kickbacks, fraud, smuggling; stories of
graft involving tens of billions of dollars and countless barrels of
oil, and implicating big business and high officials in dozens of
countries; allegations that the head of the program himself was on the
take. In February, having at first denied any wrongdoing, Sevan stopped
giving interviews and was then reported to be on vacation, heading into
retirement. By March, the U.S. Congress was preparing to hold hearings
into Oil-for-Food. Kofi Annan, having denied any knowledge of misdeeds
by UN staff, finally bowed to demands for an independent inquiry into
the UN program, saying, "I don't think we need to have our reputation
impugned." 

The tale has been all very interesting, and all
very complicated. For those who look yearningly to the UN for answers
to the world's problems, it has provoked, perhaps, some introspection
about the pardonable corruption that threatens even the most selfless
undertakings. For those who believe the UN can do nothing right,
Oil-for-Food, whatever it was about, is a delicious vindication that
everyone and everything at the world organization is crooked, the
institution a fiasco, and politicians who support it fit for recall at
the next electoral opportunity.

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