The Price of Credibility (The DLC urges Kofi Annan to resign)

[ECH1969]

As we argued last week, one of America's most urgent foreign policy needs is to retool international organizations and traditional alliances to provide collective security against the global threat of jihadist terrorism. The United Nations can and should be a central part of this new collective security system, but only if the organization is systematically reformed to serve that purpose.

Unfortunately, the United Nations' credibility has been steadily eroded by its own misdeeds, with a burgeoning scandal over its incompetent and sometimes corrupt management of the Iraq oil-for-food program being the most damaging example... snip..

Annan's intransigence should not deter the Senate subcommittee on investigations or other congressional investigations. Volcker can hardly be expected to conduct a thorough and unbiased inquiry into a scandal in which the U.N. secretary general and his son are involved. The world deserves a full and thorough accounting of what transpired. The sooner the United Nations can get past this matter, the sooner it can get back to the important business of making itself an effective instrument for collective security against terrorism, failed states, and acts of genocide, a goal that Annan has strongly supported. The secretary general should place this critical mission ahead of his personal interests, and step aside. Given his own lack of credibility on the oil-for-food program, this step is the price Annan must pay to help restore the U.N.'s credibility, and to salvage his legacy as secretary general.

http://tinylink.com/?L0MXTLCiJH

[Barrett808]

1. "the UN's credibility has been steadily eroded by its own misdeeds"

Pot. Kettle. Black.

[mirandaod]

3. yep.

[Ganja Ninja]

2. So I guess it's official ...

The DLC now represents the left wing of the GOP.

[bin.dare]

16. you are too generous to the DLC

they are one and the same as the GOP. period.

[MsAnthropy]

4. Nice. Dems are now taking dictation from slime like Coleman n/t

[Bridget Burke]

6. I'm sure they prefer him to Wellstone.

& I told them so in their feedback box.

[FECvAkins]

5. Seems the real divide

is not right v left

but rather,

the monied v the wage slave

[Mandate My Ass]

15. Too true

And the dollar slide benefits the monied at the expense of the wage slaves. Third world, here we come.

Welcome to DU, FECvAkins.

[freedom rings]

7. Koffi has to go, he is a liability

"But mismanagement, corruption, and manipulation of the program by Saddam Hussein allowed his regime to amass at least $21 billion outside of the United Nations' control, with the great bulk of that sum -- $17.3 billion -- pilfered between 1997 and 2003 on the secretary general's watch. In effect, the United Nations colluded in Saddam's successful evasion of U.N. sanctions. The most damning charge so far -- that a former chief of the oil-for-food program, Benon Sevan, accepted bribes from Saddam's regime -- was made in October by former U.N. weapons inspector Charles A. Duelfer, who led a Senate investigation into the scandal. The program is now the subject of at least four congressional investigations, three U.S. federal investigations and the U.N.-appointed commission of inquiry led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker."


This is Very VERY bad news for the UN.

[gratuitous]

23. Wow, Saddam pilfered $17.3 billion?

I wonder how much of that made its way into Dick Cheney's pocket -- after all, one of his Halliburton subsidiaries did $23 million worth of business with Saddam. Business that was apparently illegal under U.S. sanctions, but perfectly legal under Halliburton's offshore shell game corporate shenanigans. And, since Mr. Cheney raked in over $175,000 last year in deferred compensation from Halliburton, would it be impertinent to wonder if any of THAT money might be tainted by having been earned from illegal business done with Saddam's regime?

Why did we kill 1,300 soldiers and 100,000 Iraqis just because of a falling out between business partners?

[Arkana]

26. Where did that come from?

[quiet.american]

8. Why are they quoting Norm Coleman????

First, the very headline of the DLC's position on the U.N. "scandal" is ironic.

The entire stated position of the DLC on this item further diminishes its own "price of credibility."

Second -- why in the sam hill are they quoting Norm Coleman as a credible opinion? Not only is the Democratic Leadership Council quoting a republican, they are quoting one of the most egregiously pansy-waisted Repugs out there.

It seems with Shrub's re-selection, they are feeling very emboldened to drop all pretense of being Democrats.

[htuttle]

9. Looks like they're striking the set

As Frank said:
"The illusion of freedom in America will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way, and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theatre."
--Frank Zappa, 1977

[livinbella]

27. Please explain 'striking the set'

First time I have heard that expression

[HereSince1628]

18. It's the TRIANGULATION, the DLC can't free itself from stupidity

DLC Winter Term Short Course: PseudoStrategy 101 "How to run a party"

This course revolves around several important concepts...
1) Always look like the winner, even if s'he is from the opposition
2) Always take away their winning issue by adopting it as your own
3) Always assume your base is loyal and won't abandon you for such stupidity

The DLC _is_ by their own published webpages an organization of the elite. Well, elite isn't democratic

But then elite isn't about democratic. It is about collecting up people who have won elections or who have _successfully_ led community campains for some issue.

The DLC is a special club seeking people in whom other DLC'ers see as mirror images of themselves "WINNERS...no matter what it takes."

[Benhurst]

10. Unfortunately, Kofi Annan probably has to go. Now, who's going

to deliver a similar message to the DLC?

[mazzarro]

13. Why should he go when there is nothing tied to him personally?

All this crap is because he declared the Iraqi invasion to be illegal.

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mazzarro]

11. There it is in plain letters - DLC is the reThuglican wing of the

Democratic party. NO QUESTIONS ABOUT IT! They take dictations from the neo-cons and provide them the requisite democratic party cover for their dastardly acts.

[Sara Beverley]

12. Kofi is not the problem, the US is the problem.

Your attention is being diverted from who the real culprits are in this crime and of course it is easy to sway people to believe any man of color would be guilty of such malfeasance. But if the investigation is real, you are going to be surprised at who really benefited from these dealing with Saddam. Coleman's whol effort is to distract from the investigation.

[Cocoa]

14. speaking of credibility

the "New Dem Daily" is about as credible as the Washington Times, which it seems to be emulating in this worthless article.

And the "D" in DLC isn't very credible anymore either.

[Tempest]

22. The "D" must stand for Demagogue

n/t

[skippythwndrdog]

17. From the OFF Scandal, it seems clear that the UN has

quite a bit of corruption. Twenty-One Billion Dollars worth of corruption. There needs to be a major shake-up, and I think that perhaps the United States should consider not paying part of its dues until this mess is cleaned up. Heads need to roll.

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Cocoa]

24. just so you know...

that's a right-wing talking point.

Yes, it's a scandal, but it's also being exploited by people who hate the UN.

The worst thing your post has in common with the right wing blowhards is that they see the US as being morally superior in general, and innocent of involvement in this scandal in particular, embodied in your call for the US to withold dues.

[Name removed]

29. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[otaku]

19. have the DLC demanded * resign for his lies on IRAQ?

no, that's right they are all on board with the war of aggression against iraq :argh:

perfect example of reTHUG lite :puke:

[rocktivity]

20. There's nothing that the UN could have done that the US didn't know about

As with the US invasion of Iraq, none of the other UN member nations agree. The Bush regime is trying to destroy the UN for the crime for not agreeing with it.

:headbang:
rocknation

[gottaB]

28. Wow, yet another stupid move by the DLC

And so equisitely timed.

They are floundering.

[Moderator]

30. LBN rules

1. NO opinion pieces, editorials, or other stories that are not news.