March 31, 2005
The commission investigating the oil-for-food program in Iraq has concluded that while U.N. Secretary General Kofi Anan had not influenced the awarding of a contract to the company that employed his son, Anan should have looked into the company’s relationship with the U.N. once questions were raised.
The panel, headed by Paul Volker and paid for by the U.N., also criticized two of Anan’s closest advisers for their role in the scandal that let Saddam Hussein and others skim money from a fund designed to provide food for the Iraqi people in the midst of an economic boycott against Saddam’s regime.
Anan said he would not resign.
Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman, who has called on Anan to resign, says he is not persuaded by the new report.
Said Coleman, “his lack of leadership, combined with conflicts of interest and a lack of responsibility and accountability point to one and only one outcome: his resignation.”
Other investigations continue, but the U.N. is a mess and needs complete transformation.
I doubt that will come from Kofi Anan.
I’m Cal Thomas in Washington.
Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C. Watch his television show, After Hours with Cal Thomas, on the Fox News Channel, Saturdays at 11 p.m. Eastern Time.
