The UN, ATM to the Despot

[southsider2k5]

I wonder if Saddam to recommend them for Il to open an account like the old referral credit union membership system?

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion...1,3280056.story

 

Dollars for dictators

Published March 13, 2007

 

 

First there was oil-for-food, the scandal-infested United Nations program that propped up Saddam Hussein's regime with hundreds of millions in kickbacks. Now there's a new scandal brewing with another UN aid program and another notorious dictator, North Korea's Kim Jong Il. Different countries, different UN programs. But remarkably the same result--millions funneled, no questions asked or answered, to the world's most notorious regimes.

 

Here's how the United Nations Development Programme office in Pyongyang operated, as described in compelling detail by Tribune Washington bureau reporter Bay Fang:

 

A North Korean official would come to the door of the UNDP office in Pyongyang every business day. He would grab a manila envelope stuffed with cash--a large slice of the UN's disbursements for aid projects in the country--and leave. He never provided receipts. Nor did any of the UN's international staff know where the money went.

 

And those staffers couldn't easily find out: Those UN workers were not allowed to leave the compound without a government escort. They were not allowed to go travel outside Pyongyang without special permission from the military--permission they had to obtain at least a week in advance. They were not allowed to set foot in a bank. And under no circumstances were they allowed to make unrestricted visits to the projects they were supposed to be funding.

 

Even under preposterous conditions like these, the money flowed into Kim Jong Il's coffers. This didn't happen once or twice. It went on for years, with up to $150 million in hard foreign currency changing hands. "At the end, we were being used completely as an ATM machine for the regime," said one UN official with extensive knowledge of the program. "We were completely a cash cow, the only cash cow in town. The money was going to the regime whenever they wanted it."

 

What a disgrace.

 

And what was the North Korean regime doing with the money? Well, the cash was flowing in at the same time that the North Koreans were building nuclear weapons and, later, testing one. It flowed while the same United Nations--via the Security Council--was slapping sanctions on North Korea, trying to find ways to stop its nuclear program. It flowed while the U.S. worked feverishly to deny Kim Jong Il the hard currency he craved for his luxury lifestyle and to keep the fat cats happy. It flowed while the government watched, indifferently, as its own citizens starved by the thousands.

 

While the UN huffed and puffed, Kim Jong Il took the UN's money and laughed all the way to the bank.

 

Finally, earlier this month, the development program was quietly suspended. Why? After years of doling out the cash and asking nothing in return, did UN officials suddenly grow a spine? Nah. U.S. pressure persuaded the new UN secretary general, Ban Ki Moon, to launch a new audit of the program. By shutting the program preemptively, UN officials may hope to head off some embarrassment.

 

We hope that doesn't happen.

 

Earlier this year, Mark Wallace, U.S. ambassador to the UN for management and reform, wrote that at least since 1998 the program has been "systematically perverted for the benefit of the Kim Jong Il regime."

 

Now the UN promises a full audit, which is expected to be made public. Our guess: The embarrassment's only starting.

[EvilMonkey]

I wonder if Saddam to recommend them for Il to open an account like the old referral credit union membership system?

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion...1,3280056.story

I read this online last night. Too funny. And sad.

[NorthSideSox72]

It seems the UN could be such a great entity for a number of causes. But they continually trip over their own two feet.

 

Anyone have any suggestions as to what could be done to make them more effective, more trustworthy, and more respected?

[EvilMonkey]

It seems the UN could be such a great entity for a number of causes. But they continually trip over their own two feet.

 

Anyone have any suggestions as to what could be done to make them more effective, more trustworthy, and more respected?

Well, they lose alot of the respect when they let countries run by dictators on the humar rights committee, and then turn around and claim the US is one of the biggest HR violators. Even if you hate America, you have to see the absurdity in that. But, they try to be 'fair' and include everyone, when everyone doesn't deserve to be included. Their history of peacekeeping missions is also terrible, which leads to all sorts of jokes at their expense. Problem is that most nations don't want to give up control of their soldiers to another entity. So you often have sub-par people available for the peacekeeping tasks, or people with no clear mandidate as to what to do. Every time we hear of UN soldiers raping girls in Sudan, or see a UN ambulance being used by Hamas, it just furthur erodes any semblance of respectability they ever had. There is also way too much money at stake in all the various offices and programs. Very public accounting could possibly help these, or even awarding non-monetary help instead. It really is almost too f***ed up to fix, and you may be better off just starting over. but that wouldn't work either, because America would be screwed even more in whatever new entity came about. COULD it be a great entity? I suppose so. But as it is, they stink.