Can We Fire Kofi Annan Now?
By Charles Bird Posted in War — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
The possible reasons for Kofi Annan's stonewalling the oil-for-food investigation have come into clearer focus. It wasn't just to obstruct Kofi's own negligent oversight, it was perhaps to protect his own son's involvement in this massive scandal. From the London Times:
The son of the United Nations secretary-general has admitted he was involved in negotiations to sell millions of barrels of Iraqi oil under the auspices of Saddam Hussein.
Kojo Annan has told a close friend he became involved in negotiations to sell 2m barrels of Iraqi oil to a Moroccan company in 2001. He is understood to be co-operating with UN investigators probing the discredited oil for food programme.
In the transaction in question, Kojo was retained by "Hani Yamani, the son of Sheikh Yamani, the wealthy former Saudi oil minister who set up Opec" to help seal the deal. Eventually, the deal collapsed because of Yamani's apparent greed. However, on top of Kojo's continuing payments from oil-for-food contractor Cotecna, this smells to high heaven.
Kofi Annan now has a hopelessly untenable conflict of interest by remaining as UN Secretary General. President Bush should forward a no-confidence vote on Annan's leadership straight away. How much longer should we sit by and passively accept the status quo on this decrepit international body and a leader with no moral authority?