UN warns corrupt employees will be 'dealt with severely'

[PfcHammer]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1099852.htm

Last Update: Monday, May 3, 2004. 9:39am (AEST)

UN warns corrupt employees will be 'dealt with severely'

United Nations chief Kofi Annan has warned that UN employees will be stripped of their immunity and be "dealt with severely" if a probe finds they were involved in corruption in the Iraq 'oil-for-food' program.

Last month, Mr Annan launched an independent probe headed by former US Federal Reserve banking chief Paul Volcker to look into allegations of corruption within the program.

The program was launched in 1996 and ended in November 2003. It was put in place to ease sanctions against Iraq following its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, and allowed Saddam Hussein's government to use its oil revenues to buy humanitarian supplies.

"If findings were to conclude that any UN staff member had been engaged in this corruption, he or she will be dealt with severely," Mr Annan told NBC's Meet the Press news show.

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[Mistress Quickly]

1. The UN

didn't give a shiot about Iraq, or the people, or a preemptive war, or anything or moral relavance. All they cared about was the huge moola they were making on th Food-for-Oil program. That's the only reason they were against the war.

Of course, mebbe the US was mad cause they were left out of the loop, and Halliburton wanted that money, instead of Russia, Germany and France.

All these countries, their gov't is just as f*ing corrupt as ours. The people wanted to stop the war for good reason. Their governments? Just to keep the money making in the dark.

Screw 'em all.

[mobuto]

2. The UN bureaucracy was irrelevant

Of course its corrupt. But it was the Security Council, composed of 15 member states, that made the decision.

All these countries, their gov't is just as f*ing corrupt as ours. The people wanted to stop the war for good reason. Their governments? Just to keep the money making in the dark.

No, I don't think so. They knew they weren't going to stop the war, and pissing off the United States is hardly the way to get us to keep shady dealings secret. What the European countries especially were trying to do was first and foremost appeal to overwhelming popular sentiment. Both Chirac and Schroeder faced serious challenges last year, and they both won campaigning against the War. Second, Europe (and Russia and China) are attempting to forge a geopolitical counterbalance to the United States and they can only do so by opposing us. Third, the war just didn't make any sense.

Is Jacques Chirac a good guy? Absolutely not. He's a right wing compulsive-liar corrupt dirt bag, the French Richard Nixon. But he was right on Iraq, and, in the end, his motives for being right are pretty much irrelevant.

[ze_dscherman]

3. You better spend your time investigating

... what an important role the UN has played and is still playing in many ways. You seem to be forgetting that the UN inspectors were right when they told Saddam had disarmed. As well, the US/U.K. veto kept the UN in a deadlock when they tried to ease the inhumane sanctions against Iraq. And have you ever heard of the standards on education, health, womens rights and so on the UN has established and is propagating?

Please stop repeating RW UN-bashing unsubstantiated bullshit.
BTW, which money was in the grub for Germany opposing that war?

[Mistress Quickly]

4. ha ha

I bashed 'em all: USA, Russia, France Germany and the UN. Plus I'll throw in Syria, Saudi Arabia, and China.

Don't trust any of them, never have, never will.

The UN made tons of money off the Food-for-Oil program, all the while looking the other way while everyone in the world let Saddam stay in power, becuase they were all making money on the backs of the Iraqis. Noone gives a shit about the Iraqis. That's not why these governments opposed the war.

The UN? Pu-leaze. Power corrupts.

[webtrainer]

5. IMHO, this is a wedge to force Annan . . .

to go with U.S. plans or co-opt Brahimi's roadmap to their interests, not the Iraquis. I don't think there's much here, certainly not to the extent that U.S. contractors are bribing and taking kickbacks with Iraqui strongmen.