Kofi Annan has answered calls for his resignation by refusing to leave before the end of his current term, an unsurprising development after Tony Blair suddenly endorsed Annan's continued leadership:

Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday rejected calls from several U.S. lawmakers for his resignation, saying he will "carry on" at the helm of the United Nations for the next two years.

Five Republicans in the House of Representative on Monday backed a call last week by a GOP senator for Annan to resign amid allegations of corruption in the U.N. oil-for-food program. But outside the United States, there is no clamor for the secretary-general's resignation, and he has picked up support from many of the 191 U.N. member states.

Well, now there's a shock: the majority of the world's kleptocracies support the man who presided over the largest swindle in world history. Even with his son hip-deep in the scandal, Annan refuses to accept any responsibility for the Oil-For-Food debacle, and the normally sensical Blair lets him off the hook:

"I have had the occasion to be grateful for his leadership on many occasions," Blair said in London, "and I very much hope that he is allowed to get on with his job ... without criticism that I think, if people analyze it for a moment, they will see that it is unfair."

Unfair? Does the Secretary-General have responsibility for the performance of the UN bureaucracy or not? Imagine, if you will, if the UNSCAM scandal involved Halliburton in any way (or the Carlyle Group). People around the world would be screaming for Bush's and/or Cheney's resignation and Congress would start looking at those impeachment statutes with more than just an academic interest. Imagine again that Ken Lay had been left to run Enron while conducting his own internal investigation into the corruption and stonewalling investors who wanted to bring in their own independent auditors.

Annan's job was to make sure that UN-administered programs were administered properly and ethically. Benon Sevan was Annan's own hand-picked executive for the program, and yet no one has offered any proof that Annan ever looked into whether Sevan's operation conducted itself properly -- the first task of any executive is to require some sort of reporting from their subordinates, after all. If Annan cannot even do that effectively, then what good is he?

As long as Annan sits at the head of the UN, the US should withhold all funding for all UN programs, including dues. Let's starve him out of the job.

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» http://www.nationalcenter.org/2004/12/kofi-annans-resignation-realistic-view.html from Amy Ridenour's National Center Blog
Captain Ed has a good line in an essay about continuing support abroad for U.N. Secretary General [Read More]

Tracked on December 7, 2004 12:24 PM

» Annan Digging In from Josh Ferguson
The Oil-For-Food Scandal has allowed billions of dollars to be siphoned off and gone to Saddam Hussein's palaces, weapons programs, and supported Islamic terrorism, especially in Palestine, and has lined the pockets of officials all over Europe and A... [Read More]

Tracked on December 7, 2004 2:07 PM

» Hell No, I Won\'t Go from 1918 News Server
I found your entry so interesting I've added a Trackback to it at my site :) [Read More]

Tracked on December 7, 2004 7:51 PM

» Daily Dish from The Cool Blue Blog
The Democratic Leadership Council called for Kofi Annan to step aside as Secretary-General of the UN, then took it back. The DLC does not, however, deny that there have been misdeeds and corruption with regards to the Oil for Food [Read More]

Tracked on December 8, 2004 10:10 AM

» Ronnie from Ronnie
Chaz [Read More]

Tracked on March 26, 2006 8:08 AM