I guess they want him on the Bush cabinet

One more before bed.

This from AP:

. . .

Sen. Norm Coleman (news, bio, voting record), who is leading one of five U.S. congressional investigations into the U.N. oil-for-food program, wrote in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal that Annan should step down because "the most extensive fraud in the history of the U.N. occurred on his watch."

The Minnesota Republican joined several U.S. newspapers and columnists in urging that Annan be replaced.

. . .

Two weeks ago, Coleman's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said it had uncovered evidence that Saddam Hussein's government raised more than $21.3 billion in illegal revenue by subverting U.N. sanctions against Iraq, including the oil-for-food program.

On Monday, Annan said he was "very disappointed and surprised" that his son Kojo received payments until February 2004 from a firm that had a contract with the oil-for-food program. The Swiss-based firm Cotecna Inspection S.A., said Kojo Annan was paid $2,500 a month to prevent him from working for competitors after he left the company in 1998.

Annan said he understood "the perception problem for the U.N.," but he reiterated that he has never been involved in granting contracts to Cotecna or anyone else.

. . .

Coleman wrote in the Wall Street Journal that "as long as Mr. Annan remains in charge, the world will never be able to learn the full extent of the bribes, kickbacks and under-the-table payments that took place under the U.N.'s collective nose."

The oil-for-food program, which began in 1996, permitted Iraq to sell oil, provided that the revenue went for food, medicine and other necessities. At the time, Iraq was under tough U.N. economic penalties.

"Mr. Annan was at the helm of the U.N. for all but a few days of the oil-for-food program, and he must, therefore, be held accountable for the U.N.'s utter failure to detect or stop Saddam's abuses," Coleman wrote.

I always wonder about stuff like this whether a guy like Coleman really believes his own bluster or not. Is he seeing the parallels and playing a political shell game or does he genuinely believe the Bush administration has clean hands? I'm not sure which I'd prefer really.

For a related story, see Counterpunch's extremely depressing article about Iraq's decreasing health services and concomitant increasing deaths since the US has begun our course of regular wars with the country.