East River scandal

An organization meant to bring peace to the world and act as an international conflict arbiter has been tainted by scandal.\nIt should be obvious the organization I'm talking about is the United Nations, and the scandal is the Oil-for-Food program. The important questions: Were the program's terms violated, and if they were, does that irreparably damage the reputation of the United Nations? \nAccording to the Web site of the Independent Inquiry Committee into the Oil-for-Food Program, the original purpose was to provide "the sale and delivery of petroleum and petroleum products and the purchase and delivery of humanitarian goods." In other words, Iraq was going to sell some of its oil to raise money for its people and rebuild its infrastructure.\nThere are a lot of disturbing things coming out of the committee's most recent report. Some of them were outlined in a Feb. 7 article in the International Herald Tribune. Benon Sevan, head of the Oil-for-Food program, is accused of asking senior Iraqi officials to grant oil allocations to Africa Middle East Petroleum, a company owned by a distant relative of former Secretary General and colleague Boutros Boutros-Ghali. The report stops short of accusing Sevan of benefiting from the deal, but it does note that he claimed to receive more than $160,000 from an elderly aunt who could not possibly have given away that kind of money.\nThe other major charge in the report -- although not as grave as taking bribes -- is that the United Nations violated its own competitive bidding rules by awarding monitoring contracts. Details show that contracts given to a French bank to handle the program's escrow account, a Dutch company to inspect oil shipments coming out of Iraq and a British company to inspect humanitarian shipments going into Iraq were improperly awarded. However benign this particular allegation is, the U.N. official most involved is likely to face disciplinary action.\nPerhaps the trouble is not what we know now but what we still don't know. The committee's final report will analyze the role of Kofi Annan's son Kojo in receiving payments from a contractor and whether members of the Security Council knew Iraq was receiving illicit revenue from the program.\nSo what does all this mean for the United Nations, its leaders and its reputation?\nTo his credit, Annan has acted swiftly. According to a Feb. 7 article by The Associated Press, Sevan and Joseph Stephanides, one of Sevan's top lieutenants, were suspended with pay pending formal charges. Annan even went so far as to say he would revoke Sevan's diplomatic immunity if any criminal charges were filed. These actions, in combination with a public mea culpa, are likely to allow the secretary general to remain in his job.\nThe perception of the United Nations is going to suffer.\nI wonder what the U.N.'s founders would say if they could see it now. The climate in which it was created was one that was weary of war and eager to find a way to avoid wide-scale conflict.\nThe United Nations depends entirely on the cooperation of its member states to enforce its mission. But why would members want to cooperate with an organization that allowed Saddam to pocket billions? How do we know there aren't more dictators making money off the United Nations?\nWhat the organization needs more than anything is a thorough, top-to-bottom cleaning out. We need to examine every single program and official to ensure its good intentions benefit the right people and states.\nThe mission of the United Nations is too important to allow the Benon Sevans of the world to continue to exist in its ranks.