Remember all those f…

Remember all those folks who said that we should wait for the sanctions in Iraq to work? In the meantime, the people of Iraq were being cared for by the liberal, big government program called the Oil-for-Food program, administered by the United Nations. As you probably know by now, that program was enriching Saddam Hussein, not his people. What more could be said about it?

Plenty. Claudia Rosett, writing in Commentary magazine, blows the lid off the whole scheme, the corruption of which extends far beyond the program itself.

The excitement may be justified, but a number of important facts and conclusions have gone missing. Oil-for-Food, run by the UN from 1996 to 2003, did, in fact, deliver some limited relief to Iraqis. It also evolved into not only the biggest but the most extravagant, hypocritical, and blatantly perverse relief program ever administered by the UN. But Oil-for-Food is not simply a saga of one UN program gone wrong. It is also the tale of a systematic failure on the part of what is grandly called the international community.

That’s where it starts, and when you’re done, countries that were recalcitrant to go to war against Iraq are exposed as the real folks trying to profiteer from Iraqi oil, and tens of billions (with a “B”) of dollars of graft have swirled down the drain, and not just in Iraq, but within the United Nations itself.

Who in their right mind would want that organization to have a larger role in administering a nation like Iraq? Who in their right mind could ever believe France or Russia in the future when they protest for “peace”, when they were clearly trying to cover their own kiesters with their “give peace a chance” bleatings?

And why do we willingly participate in an organization so corrupt that they make the Mafia look like a bunch of Girl Scouts selling cookies? When (if?) the full truth comes out, folks like John Kerry who are arguing for paying more deference to this elitist bunch ought to do some serious soul-searching. Though listening to how strenuously Kerry wants to “rejoin the international community”, if he represents the average UN-backer in this country, none of this will matter to them. Liberal programs are, by definition, good, regardless of outcome. Intentions matter, not results, and this would prove that point like nothing else.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!