UN Critic Says Scandal Indicates Breakdown in Security Council Mission

Yet another critic of the UN finds that the Oil-for-Food scandal was more then just a scam. It was how saddam was able to buy influence on the Security Council itself. The UN continues to become less and less relavent every day. - Sailor



UN Critic Says Scandal Indicates Breakdown in Security Council Mission
By Julie Stahl
CNSNews.com Jerusalem Bureau Chief
February 04, 2005

Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - The U.N.'s oil-for-food scandal points to a breakdown in the Security Council's mandate to safeguard international peace and security, says a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations.

Dr. Dore Gold, author of the recently released "Tower of Babble: How the United Nations Has Fueled Global Chaos" said that beyond the corruption aspect of the scandal, there has not been enough focus on the breach of international security.

A panel appointed to investigate the U.N.'s oil-for-food program found that Saddam Hussein and others were able to siphon billions of dollars out of the program because mismanagement and a failure to follow accounting procedures.

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan says he has started disciplinary proceedings against the U.N. official who ran the program. An interim report released Thursday said Benon Sevan had a "grave and continuing conflict of interest" and "seriously undermined the integrity of the United Nations."

A separate report addressing questions about the possible involvement of Annan and his son Kojo is yet to come.

"The oil-for-food program corruption story has probably jolted the foundations of the U.N. more than any other recent scandal," Gold told the Cybercast News Service in an interview conducted prior to the release of Thursday's interim report.

"The reason is not because of the corruption, which many in the press are focusing on...but I think what is striking many is that the oil-for-food program was a mechanism by which Saddam Hussein could funnel money to countries and individuals that would support him in the U.N. Security Council."

Gold served as Israel's ambassador to the U.N. from mid-1997 until the end of 1999.

An earlier report -- from the U.S. government's Iraq Survey Group -- charged that Saddam had subverted the oil-for-food program in an attempt to bribe French and Russian officials and companies to use their influence on behalf of Iraq as permanent members of the Security Council.

France and Russia were two of Iraq's staunchest supporters in the Security Council.

"What the scandal really points to is a fundamental breakdown of the Security Council as a guarantor of international peace and security since it seems from initial findings to be a body that can be so easily manipulated by a determined oil-producing country," he said.

Another element of the security failure was that the U.N.'s hiring of a Swiss company - Cotechna - which in turn paid Annan's son Kojo. The company was responsible for monitoring and inspecting what was entering Iraq from Syria and Jordan.

But according to U.N. internal audits, the company did not hire sufficient staff to ensure that foodstuffs and pharmaceuticals were being trucked into Iraq rather than industrial goods that could be used for the Iraqi military, Gold said.

"The U.S. Congress estimated that only seven to 10 percent of all goods coming into Iraq under the oil-for-food program were inspected. That means that there was a gaping hole that had been created in this program through which Saddam Hussein could bring illicit goods," Gold said.

According to Gold, the oil-for-food program allowed Saddam to funnel money into his military industry and increase its budget 100-fold from 1996 to 2003.

"Clearly Saddam Hussein was preparing the groundwork to reconstitute many of his weapons programs," Gold said.

And because the U.N. oil-for-food program failed to inspect goods coming into Iraq -- and because Saddam Hussein manipulated the program, funneling money into his military - the "U.N. failed in its mission to the international community," Gold added.