UN-Cooperative

Why am I, once again, not surprised?

WASHINGTON — A key lawmaker participating in the congressional probe of the U.N. Oil-for-Food scandal says he's fed up with what he described as the lack of cooperation coming from the United Nations.

Rep. Joe Barton, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, wrote to Mark Malloch Brown, chief of staff to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, on Tuesday, disputing recent comments Brown made indicating that the international organization is cooperating with congressional investigators on getting to the bottom of the Oil-for-Food controversy.

"In light of the U.N.'s repeated refusals to provide this committee with specific relevant documents and witnesses, the assertion that 'we are cooperating' with congressional investigations is puzzling, if not disingenuous," Barton, a Texas Republican, wrote in the letter.

Now, I'm going to go out on a limb in a big way here and say that I think Kofi Annan has something to hide, vis a vis the Oil-For-Food program. I don't necessarily think that he benefited financially from it, though I wouldn't rule it out. I think, though, that the fact that he and the rest of his thugs in the United Nations' administrative establishment have been much less than forthcoming on the Oil-For-Food controversy is very, very fishy.

I also think (surprise, surprise) that the American taxpayers, who largely funded the Oil-For-Food program and continue to provide the brunt of U.N. funding, have a right to know the extent and the cause of the overwhelming corruption of the United Nations in this respect.