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Article 2: [From the National Review Online by Claudia Rosett. Find the full text here: http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/rosett200403101819.asp] This article evaluates a personal relationship: Kojo Annan and Kofi Annan. Its molds around the happenings of the Oil-for-Food Scandal, though. Background information about the Oil-for-Food Scandal follows.

What is the Oil-for-Food Scandal (1996-2003)?

The United Nations deals with nations in distress at the largest agenda, often imploring the use of other nation’s resources and time to help them—this is basically the revolving circle of foreign relations at the United Nations’ office. In 1996, however, the United Nations’ humanitarian wing sought to utilize the resources of the nation actually in tumult—Iraq in this case. Because of trade sanctions from the Gulf War, Iraq ran into paucity of food and medical supplies. ‘What if internal resources, like oil sales, were used to pump money into the nation for help in purchasing food and supplies?’ thought the United Nations. Thus, the Oil-for-Food program began. However, looked upon as such a unique project then, the Oil-for-Food now sits as the grain of arguments about its byproducts—sponsoring terrorism, promoting Iraqi dependence on Hussein, and allowing smuggled oil to benefit private bodies, for example.

Claimed unexpected by the United Nations, the key result of the Oil-for-Food programs was it’s crabwise way of placing Saddam Hussein as the essential provider for the Iraqi people’s supplies. More than half of the Iraq depended on Hussein’s oil sales—yes, they were Hussein’s, as this export was entirely under his domination.  Not only did the Iraqi people fall into naivety, so too did the United Nations itself, as it benefited from a certain percentage of oil sales.

It seems quite possible that the world had a national tyrant and an organization of humanitarians and peace leaders working together for one behind-the-scenes interest, a goal not necessarily for the citizens of Iraq. Hussein, with the permission of the United Nations, began to enjoy his partnership most vividly when he sold to United Arab Emirates oil companies. In fact, Hussein gained rather than gave $1.8 billion through the project. It appears that Hussein, not the United Nations, had the lead on foreign relations when it came to this project.

When the scandal spilled on the public, most citizens looked with shame at the result of Hussein’s selling oil to other buyers: it fueled terrorist.  Two buyers in particular—an entity with relations to the Taliban and a company tied with Al Qaeda—gave citizens enough evidence to question the program’s infrastructure. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan was implicated for lying about the scandal, nearly losing his job; however, the investigator was later punished for accusing Annan without enough evidence. In fact, the United Nations fired only Joseph Stephanides, who they recently reinstated with with a $200,000 compensation for psychological damage. The discussed article evaluates the various personal favors that the United Nations possibly had too. The author brings up the fact that Kojo Annan, Kofi Annan’s son, could have participated in the scandal when he undertook a job position in Switzerland that monitored trade activity of the Oil-for-Food project. Her assertions, along with the details of the agenda, lead citizens to wonder: 'Is the United Nations a plate for peace or a table for tyrants?' and 'Does the United Nations uses foreign relations to better their lot and private entities or if they use foreign relations to improve the conditions of foreign nations, especially Third World countries.'

How has the Oil-for-Food Scandal spilled into the Present?

The Oil-for-Food scandal has tainted the reputation of Kofi Annan and led people to question his reform policies, most prominently the recent Alliance for Civilizations. The Alliance for Civilizations is basically a discussion forum for people appointed by the Secretary-General to sort out issues between the Islamic Middle East and the Capitalist West. The members of the Alliance are not picked based on country, but are merely selected based on the Secretary-General’s decisions. Many people believe that such widespread power for appointing positions should not be given to the Secretary-General alone. They also question Kofi Annan’s selections for the Alliance, since it seems unfair and suggests favoritism. Islam representatives dominate the Alliance, causing many to believe it tilted toward that side. Also, Kofi Annan appointed his former chief of staff, Iqbal Riza, to the Alliance for Nations. Even if we put aside the possibility of favoritism, Riza’s history hardly makes him an appropriate choice. Riza was the deputy of U.N. peacekeeping during the Rwanda disaster (see Opposition 3). Although this does not mean that Riza was completely to blame for the Rwanda disaster, Riza was also involved in the Oil-for-Food cover-up. He destroyed Annan’s executive-suite documents spanning three years, thus disobeying Paul Vocker’s (head of the Oil-for-Food investigation) order that they be preserved. Furthermore, he knew of the Oil-for-Food scandal at least two years before the scandal was made public. The list continues, but clearly Riza was an “iffy” choice for such a position, causing many to doubt the effectiveness of Annan’s reform.

Last Updated: March 19, 2006