Foreign Correspondence

[Ace Hanlon]

Strange Bedfellows -- Annan and the Bush Administration
Rahul Mahajan


December 10, 2004

Here's an interesting chronology of events:

* October 30. Kofi Annan sends a letter to the governments of the United States, Britain, and Iraq warning against an assault on Fallujah
( http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1105-01.htm

* November 8. The assault on Fallujah is begun, and carried out in a way that is far beyond what Kofi Annan likely imagined -- declaring parts of the city a "free-fire" zone, effectively declaring all "military-age males" to be enemies, denying access to the Iraqi Red Crescent for weeks after the assault, and much more. Not a peep is heard out of the U.N.

* November 26. It is learned ( http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/10297981.htm ) that Kojo Annan's lawyer (Kojo is Kofi's son) has informed the Volcker panel (appointed by Kofi Annan to look into allegations that the U.N. was involved in attempts by the Iraqi government to manipulate the Oil for Food program) that he continued to receive payments from Cotecna, a Swiss firm that was involved in oversight of the OFF program, through February 2004.

* December 1. Sen. Norm Coleman, chair of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which has been pursuing its own parallel investigation into the same claims, writes an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal calling for Annan to resign.

* December 9. The Bush administration, through outgoing U.N. Ambassador John Danforth, issues a public statement backing Annan and saying it does not want him to resign ( http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/10/international/10nations.ht
ml?ex=1260334800&en=3a5b3e5bd133448e&ei=5090&partner=rssuser ... )

Now, it's not clear how much this timing was or could be arranged. The Volcker investigation has been going on for months and Kojo Annan has been implicated from the beginning.

Still, one thing seems pretty clear to me. The threat hanging over Kofi Annan's head has been effectively used to keep him from saying anything more about Fallujah. It's not simply a matter of decrying abuses already committed; he could at least call for the Iraqi Red Crescent to be allowed back in, some more provision to be made for refugees, or some investigation to be made. But he hasn't.

The United States, which still needs Kofi Annan and the U.N. to help it pretend that the scheduled January 30 elections will mean something, is reciprocating by supporting Annan -- fo