Senior UN officials funded the Taliban

A new report reveals leading officials at the corrupt UN were collaborating with the Taliban:

Senior United Nations (UN) officials helped the Taliban extract kickbacks from UN contractors bankrolled by U.S. tax dollars, a new report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) alleged Wednesday.

UN officials allegedly worked with the Taliban to bribe and extort UN contractors supplying aid to Afghanistan in exchange for lucrative, often billion-dollar aid contracts, numerous anonymous sources told SIGAR in interviews. Of the $10.72 billion in total aid given to Afghanistan between 2021 and the State Department cancelling most of the funds in 2025, $3.83 billion came from the U.S.

It sounds like it could even have connections with the oil-for-food scandal of 2 decades ago. Once again, the UN's been exposed as the atrocious movement they truly are, and they wasted tons of tax money on the Taliban, as if things couldn't get bad enough.

Kofi Annan quits as envoy to Syria

The corrupt former secretary-general of the UN has left his role as a so-called negotiator to Syria, frustrated not just by the increasing war in Syria, but also by the UN security council. Well gee, what does he expect from an outfit that's now dominated by Islamic states, and clogged with only so much corruption? This is also the same man who was responsible on his part for the Oil-for-Food scandal, and has never been held accountable. If he can't figure out some of the problems with the political organization he was once head of, he's clearly got a problem.

U.N. Me tells what the left doesn't want to know about them

Jonathan Tobin's reviewed the new documentary called U.N. Me by Ami Horowitz and Matthew Grof that gives some insight to what the alleged defender of the world is really like, which is little more than a corrupt political outfit:

Those who view his films as compendiums of distorted propaganda may rightly despise Michael Moore, but there’s no denying that his work re-popularized the documentary as an independent art form while effectively promoting his views. Moore and others who followed in his footsteps, such as Morgan Spurlock, whose “Super Size Me” lambasted the fast food industry, created a popular template in which the filmmaker’s personal narrative, interspersed with humor and relentless attempts to expose and thereby belittle the objects of their scorn, set the standard for the genre. But the question for viewers of a newly released film that was created in the spirit of “Roger and Me, ” “Bowling for Columbine” or “Super Size Me” is whether there is an audience for this sort of work if the subject matter is not one that liberals and leftists love to hate.

In “U.N. Me,” Ami Horowitz and Matthew Grof have done just that. Horowitz, the on-screen personality and narrator, takes his audience on an international tour intended to show that the United Nations is a corrupt talking shop that has made a mockery of the ideals that it was created to promote. As “U.N. Me” makes clear, the world body has criminal peacekeepers who fail to protect the innocent, purposely-blind nuclear inspectors, thieves in charge of food programs, and has a Human Rights Council that is a forum for tyrants and murderers.

There is a minor drawback to the film as well, that it doesn't really touch upon the UN's obsession with Israel:

To get past the prejudices of filmgoers predisposed to dismiss criticism of the U.N., Horowitz concentrates his fire on the causes that most appeal to liberal sensibilities, such as the genocide in Darfur. That means the number one object of U.N. perfidy — the state of Israel — is conspicuous by its absence in the film. Though so much of what is wrong about the U.N. is illustrated by the widespread anti-Semitism given a hearing in its halls and the double standard by which the democratic State of Israel is subjected to most of the resolutions adopted by the institution, the Jewish state is mentioned only in passing throughout “U.N. Me.” Though this may disappoint some viewers, it’s not a mistake. While it eliminates many of the most egregious instances of U.N. misbehavior, the tactic also allows Horowitz to make his point about its failures without miring his narrative in the rhetorical battlefield of the Middle East conflict.

But even without a discussion of the U.N.’s unfair obsession with Israel, there is more than enough scandalous material to fill several hours, let alone the 90 minutes of “U.N. Me.”

I suppose so, though I'd still like to see that particular subject get a serious look in a documentary like this. In fact, this makes me think of how a great documentary could be made of the European Union's own corruption and pretentious platforms, which also has an obsession with Israel at the expense of Islamofascism, and even Britain's own horrific politics and cultural mindset. If a documentarian were to develop something like that, it could make the perfect mirror for Britain to look into at just how awful they really are.

UN has no regrets over Oil-for-Food scandal

Claudia Rosett writes that the United Nations has tossed the subject of their notorious Oil-for-Food scandal into oblivion. She also reminds that:

Plenty of blame goes to the UN Secretariat, run during all but the first month of Oil-for-Food by former Secretary-General Kofi Annan — whose hand-picked head of the program, Benon Sevan, was later alleged by a UN-authorized inquiry to have “corruptly” derived “personal pecuniary benefit from the Oil-for-Food Programme” via “cash proceeds” from lucrative Oil-for-Food contracts. The UN-authorized inquiry, led by Paul Volcker, devoted hundreds of pages to the mismanagement, derelictions and abuses that went on in the Secretariat, which had the hands-on responsibility for dealing with most of Oil-for-Food’s dirty details.

But the Security Council, which doubled as the Iraq sanctions committee, also bears plenty of blame. The Security Council authorized the program, approved contracts and — as we now know, after many post-mortem investigations and congressional hearings — had its own internal wrangles, in which the U.K. and U.S. made private protests over the obvious corruption, but failed to stop the fiesta of graft — in which Saddam was ordering up such stuff as milk from Russian oil companies and Chinese weapons manufacturers.

The UN owes an apology for this atrocity, which FOX News, who reported about much of this case 5 ago, sadly doesn't even mention now either. And unfortunately, it's clear that the UN won't ever apologize for the damage they caused.

United Nations has to go ASAP

David Solway at Pajamas Media writes about the UN's vicious corruption, and why sooner or later, real democracies are going to have to leave it. Over the years they have only been and become a platform for anti-Israel sentiment, they've even barred observers like Anne Bayefsky from speaking there, they've accepted the Goldstone libel to the fullest, they've barred criticism of Islam, and let's not forget the Congo sex scandal, which members of their "peacekeeping" forces there so blatantly committed.

I must say, it's simply amazing how, over all these years, so many people even in entertainment maintained such a naive view of them, when in reality, the actual organization is a complete sham and disgrace. This is something that's going to have to change too.

Houston defendants in Oil-for-food scandal should be charged with treason

Two oil tycoons in Texas who collaborated with the UN in the oil-for-food scandal have plead guilty (via Michelle Malkin):

Houston oilman David Chalmers, accused of funneling illegal payments to Saddam Hussein’s regime at at time when Iraq was the target of strict economic sanctions, pleaded guilty today to a conspiracy charge.

Chalmers’ business associate at Houston-based BayOil, Ludmil Dionissiev, pleaded guilty to one count of facilitating a shipment of merchandise into the United States, knowing that shipment to not be authorized by law.

That leaves Houston oil tycoon Oscar Wyatt as the lone defendant still slated to go to trial in September on charges he made millions of dollars in illicit payments to Saddam’s government for the privilege of buying Iraqi crude.

Wyatt attorney Carl Parker said today that his client is not guilty and intends to proceed to trial. Parker said he does not believe today’s guilty pleas will affect Wyatt’s prospects.

“I don’t think it will mean anything to Wyatt,” Parker said. “I think the government made a stretch trying to tie them together in the first place. They’re not partners. They haven’t acted together.”

The charges stemmed from oil sales conducted under the United Nations’ scandal-plagued oil-for-food humanitarian program for Iraq.

That program was designed to allow Baghdad to export crude to help the Iraqi people while keeping the proceeds out of Saddam’s hands.

But the Iraqi government began demanding that purchasers pay a secret surcharge to lift Iraqi crude. All three men were accused of funneling payments to Saddam’s government from mid-2000 to March 2003.

Here's more on the case:

Oscar Wyatt’s defense lawyers are trying to ensure a jury never sees an Iraqi document they say suggests the Houston oil tycoon “has committed the deplorable crime of treason.”

The 82-year-old Texas oilman is slated to stand trial in September on charges he funneled millions of dollars in illegal payments to Saddam Hussein’s government in order to win lucrative oil export contracts.

The document in question suggests Wyatt discussed American troop levels and possible dates for an attack with members of Saddam’s regime, prior to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

While the purported discussion about troop levels and attack dates are reminiscent of some of the armchair speculation common in the runup to the war, the details varied from what actually occurred when the war started.

Wyatt attorney Gerald Shargel, in an interview today, said the document contains “not a single fact that wasn’t reported in media outlets both in the United States and internationally, not a single fact.”

In a motion filed late Monday in U.S. District Court, Wyatt’s lawyers argue: “This document essentially alleges that Wyatt has committed the deplorable crime of treason and aided an enemy of the United States.” The filing does not contain the document itself, although Wyatt’s lawyers have confirmed it is the one obtained by the Chronicle from other sources.

Wyatt’s lawyers want U.S. District Judge Denny Chin to keep the document from being presented as evidence at the trial because “such actions would likely to be considered repugnant by most Americans and could potentially cause bias.”

But they should be considered repugnant, because they are, though I wouldn't go so far as to say that this could cause "bias". It's an opinion that they should lead to, that Wyatt should be charged with treason for his crimes. And I hope that in time, they are. Or that an appeal will be filed to try and get them to be.

Be sure to check out the Oil-For-Food Facts site, as it contains plenty of info that should be known about the UN's crimes in profiteering.

Others on the subject include JunkYardBlog, Bill's Bites, Marginalized Action Dinosaur.

Oil-for-food profiteer indicted

Benon Sevan, one of the biggest names involved in the notorious oil-for-food scandal, has been indicted in New York. From FOX News (via Hot Air):

Former U.N. Oil-for-Food chief Benon Sevan has been indicted in New York federal court for allegedly taking bribes under the program from Saddam Hussein's regime, U.S. authorities announced Tuesday.

The charges, detailed in a joint press release by the FBI, the U.S. Attorney's office and the Manhattan district attorney, came over a year after former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker completed an investigation for the United Nations into the massively corrupted Oil-for-Food program that operated in Saddam's Iraq between 1996 and 2003.

According to the press release, Sevan allegedly received $160,000 generated from the sale of Iraqi oil under the program from one Ephraim Nadler, an associate who was also indicted, on behalf of the government of Iraq. The money was allegedly used to pay off overdue credit cards and bills.

Specifically, the two were charged with wire fraud, based on their depriving the United Nations of its right to Sevan's honest services; bribery concerning an organization — the United Nations that receives more than $10,000 annually from the federal government; and conspiracy to commit these offenses.

Well now, this is certainly big news. It's time that the oil-for-food scandal returned to the headlines again, as even Kofi Annan should be tried and charged for his own role in the scandal. So too should Jacques Chirac, and even Jean-MarieDhimmi Le Pen, if he ever took bribes from Saddam, as I once asked was possible.

Others on the subject include Blue Crab Boulevard, Ed Driscoll, RightWinged, Conservative Times.

Did Le Pen ever get oil-for-food kickbacks from Saddam?

The UN's oil-for-food scandal, which included quite a few people who weren't directly connected to or employed by them, such as the loathsome George Galloway, hasn't been discussed so much lately, even though Galloway himself was cited as going to stand trial for his own involvement recently. But it still needs to be discussed, including the possibility that Jean-MarieDhimmi Le Pen, who visited Iraq in a solidarity visit to Saddam, may have been involved.

I couldn't find any articles that bring up the question, but I did find a cached page from the India Tribune that has both subjects on it. No connection made here, yet for me, it did seem to suggest something.

Personally, I think there is certainly a possibility that Le Pen may have taken money from Saddam during his visit to Iraq shortly before the invasion to topple the dictator in 2002. Just how to prompt an investigation is the real challenge.

While we're on the subject, well well well, what have we here: NRO's The Corner finds more news confirming Le Pen's Front National giving up its opposition to Muslim immigration. From the UPI:

In France, Jean-Marie Le Pen's far right National Front appears to have opted for a can't-lick-'em-join-'em strategy, a rapprochement with France's large immigrant Muslim community -- with undertones of anti-Semitism. Le Pen's reasoning appears to be the recognition that Islamicization is in France to stay with 25 percent of France's under 20 population Muslim (40 percent in some cities), 2nd and 3rd generation North Africans. FN's tough stance on immigration is tempered by support for Arab and Islamist causes in the Middle East (Hamas and Hezbollah are two favorites). There are an estimated 6 to 8 million Muslims among France's 62 million and Islam is now France's second religion. Mosques are well attended on Fridays; churches aren't on Sundays. France's prison inmates are over 50 percent Muslim

Le Pen's strategic advisers argue the FN must drop its founding mythology and forget about the once popular image of a modern Joan of Arc resisting the invasion of Muslim hordes. Americans and Jews are the new targets. But the party's Christian right-wingers do not agree and are defecting in large numbers. The Islamist threat is their main concern and they are finding a new political home in MPF, Mouvement Pour la France, which is anti-European Union and anti-Muslim, and given only 7 percent of registered voters in a recent poll. Le Pen's followers have dropped back from 11 percent to 9 percent.

It's good if Le Pen's support base is finally dwindling, as people realize that he's not what he claims to be. Let me add that in Britain, people may want to keep an eye on the BNP, since they too could be two-faced. Read the rest of the article to see how the intifada and attacks on Jews are rising in France now too.

It's most definitely possible that the riots from last year will be returning again, and if Chirac is smart, he'll allow the authorities to fight back full force. The army is what's needed here (but leave behind any members who are Muslim), and Chirac and his defense minister are the ones whose court the ball is in on that matter.

Others on the subject include Ace of Spades HQ, Rive Gauche, The Brussels Journal, Gates of Vienna, ThreatsWatch.Org.

News brief roundup

One of Ariel Sharon's spokespersons told Newsweek that the prime minister is willing to divide Jerusalem, which the prime minister denies, but if he's not willing to divide the city, why is he letting his spokeperson put words in his mouth?

While we're on the subject, while polls are most certainly hard to figure out, it appears that whatever support Kadima's got is slipping. One can rightfully argue that Tzachi Hanegbi and Shaul Mofaz's bolting from the Likud party to join Sharon's may have been a contributing factor to this. But also, there's the fact that the PLO's al-Aksa brigade is now trying to launch Kassam rockets at Israeli neighborhoods, as the IRIS Blog finds out via Daily Alert.

One Jerusalem's got more on this subject, and you could very well say that

RWDB's got a roundup of reports (via Tim Blair) on police preparations in Australia for any violence that could take place in Sydney over the weekend, and I should hope they intend to see to it that any from the Moslem enclave in Lakemba is not ignored. Plus, Duke's Place has a topic (and an article from American Daily in Arizona) featuring something I most certainly agree to as well: if you don't like us, and don't want to integrate, and don't want to respect our culture and customs, then (how could it be any simpler?) go back where you came from/originated. Period.

The gangland murderer Stanley "Tookie" Williams, responsible for many drive-by murders, has just been sent to hell where he belongs, and I'm personally wondering if the MSM was lying when they implied that the black community would riot (why should they, since most or all of his victims were black?). John McIntyre at Real Clear Politics (via Guns and Butter Blog) gives some more info on the case, and why Tookie got what he deserved.

The Radio Equalizer's got more on both the riots in Australia and the Tookie case.

The Washington Post (via Thomas Galvin) reports that the Democrats fear a backlash at the polls thanks to just how startlingly vulgar they acted lately in voicing their opposition to the war in Iraq. If they want to make things better, well then, why not start off by expelling John Murtha, Howard Dean, and Nancy Pelosi from their ranks? Protein Wisdom, California Conservative, The Indepundit, Q and O, Captain's Quarters and Just One Minute also comment, and Stop the ACLU provides more on John Kerry, another member who'd be doing us all a favor by retiring from politics already.

The Philadelphia Weekly's got a great item on a west side resident who worked his way to fortune by designing nostalgic basketball jerseys.

Older topic from April: The Jerusalem Post reports of a rampage that took place in Ramallah on Thursday by Fatwa gunmen:

Dozens of Fatah gunmen went on a shooting rampage in the city, beating passersby and smashing furniture inside some of the city's prestigious restaurants, including Darna and Bardouni. The gunmen also beat some diners and waiters, forcing them to flee.

Eyewitnesses identified the assailants as members of Fatah's armed wing, Aksa Martyrs Brigades. They said the gunmen, who were carrying automatic rifles and handguns, shouted slogans against Abbas as they attacked the restaurants, which are usually frequented by senior PA officials and their families.

"We are living in a jungle," the owner of one of the restaurants told The Jerusalem Post. "These men think they are above the law and everyone is afraid of them.

Sad but true. They think that everyone is afraid of them. But in truth, it is the gunmen themselves who are the cowards.

The New York Sun reports that the House has renewed the Patriot Act. That's good, but how about fixing the justice system as well, so that we can prevent creeps like Sami Al-Arian from walking freely again? (It's a good thing that prosecutors are hopefully appealing the verdict, and that he's still in jail facing nine other criminal charges.)

The US Reform Judiaism movement writes an anti-war letter to Dubya, and makes everyone angry. Considering just how un-Israeli they are, I should think it best for anyone with common sense to distance themselves from such an awful bunch.

Claudia Rosett continues her coverage of the investigation into the oil-for-food scandal in National Review, discussing UK parliamentarian George Galloway and French minister Charles Pasqua's being charged as suspects. And that's not all, as pointed out here:

"Also on the list are a number of other figures now embroiled, with substantial supporting evidence, in the Oil-for-Food scandal. These include U.S. businessman Samir Vincent, who recently copped a plea with federal prosecutors now investigating cases involving bribery and wire fraud related to Oil-for-Food. The recent subject of a Financial Times expose is on it, Italian politician Roberto Formigoni. So is another American businessman, Shakir al-Khafaji, reported by the Wall Street Journal to have received funds from Saddam and helped bankroll the lobbying activities of former weapons-inspector turned anti-sanctions activist, Scott Ritter. So, for that matter, is the former head of the Oil-for-Food program, Benon Sevan — found by Paul Volcker’s U.N.-authorized investigation to have engaged in a severe conflict of interest involving Saddam’s oil allocations under the program."

And of course, it's not cash these suspects were likely to have been paid with, but rather, something even more valuble, as I mentioned earlier: oil vouchers.

I do hope this investigation will in time lead to Galloway's resignation from the UK parliament. Put simply, he does not deserve to have a position there.

The Saudi prince Al-Waleed, as much an enemy of America as he is of Israel, is said to have given $10 million dollars to Harvard and Georgetown Universities to fund Islamic studies. I'd say that's a good enough reason to boycott their campuses for quite some time, effective immediately.

NRO's The Corner (via MooreWatch) finds Saint Cindy Sheehan pretending to sleep on her son's grave as part of a photo-op in Vanity Fair, disgracing his memory, and showing that's she's one real sick person.

And Karen Hughes has been screwing up again, proving that she's not fit to be in her position.

Atom Egoyan's latest movie, Where the Truth Lies, got a negative response for sex, but nobody's bothered about the violence that takes place in it. From ultra-establishment CNN:

"It really is interesting to me how people respond to the sexuality but not to the violence," Egoyan said at a news conference, responding to reporters' questions about why he went as far as he did in sex scenes involving Bacon, Firth, Alison Lohman and other co-stars.

"No one says that it goes too far when he's bashing his head against the floor. No one ever talks about that. That's the most gory scene I've ever done, and people don't have a problem with that. It's weird. We're still really kind of obsessed about sex."

I must agree that it's simply amazing as to how, even today, nobody gives a damn about violence, but are willing to swing the complete opposite direction when it comes to sex.

Of course, there's still something to ponder here:

"Lanny and Vince's sexual conquests, including a threesome with the woman who ends up dead, are presented with steamy explicitness, sometimes as comical commentary on their lifestyle of debauchery."

At the same time, I can't say I find that in good taste to be presenting something involving sex to follow with the death of the woman involved afterwards. But then, here's where something may have been missed:

"Karen also is lured into Lanny and Vince's carnal activities, including a lesbian encounter with a woman in an "Alice in Wonderland" getup."

Hmm. Could it be that the audience was bothered about that? But even if so, that still doesn't excuse the fact that they legitimized the violence, that's fore sure.

In any case, this is still a very superficial report, and doesn't make any real attempt to question why for some moviegoers, violence legit but sex is not. And so, like so many other CNN reports, I come away feeling like I haven't learned anything.

Speaking of which, on the Lexington Herald-Leader, the mega-establishment AP wire reports that the ultra-establishment CNN is doing a reshuffle for its daytime schedule. And what they say that's silly is:

"We cover international news better than anyone," said Jonathan Klein, president of CNN/US, on Wednesday. "Why not give our U.S. viewers a real opportunity to see the type of stories they cannot see anywhere else?"

Like on the blogosphere, perhaps? Or on the internet as well? LOL. So, what else is new?

Hat tip: Kentucky Democrat.

News notes for the week

Here's several topics from this week to ponder for this posting.

First, we have Dubya's speech regarding the danger that the US and Israel both face: Islamofascism. Now that's certainly a positive step that the president is taking to name the specific danger, but, here's an interesting question: does the PLO, whose own members are also Islamists, also count? And if the al Qaeda were to start operating in Gaza, would the US try to shut them down?

On Politics and Other Random Thoughts provides extensive coverage of the suicide bomber in Oklahoma. As Mark Tapscott, through whom I found the link, asks, who is Tariq Alzoubi?

This is the student who commented in several articles regarding Hinrichs' roommate Fazal M. Cheema.
I have discovered that Tariq is an opinion column writer at the University of Oklahoma. His column appears every other Wednesday. Hardly what I would call an "objective" voice in all of this. I suspect he is the writer of this column which must contain a "spin alert".
Tariq is also listed as the contact for the Arab Student Association at OU.Read Tariq Alzoubi's editorial (originally printed in the OK Daily (OU) Newspaper). It has been posted on the "Friends of Al-Jazeera" website. "Considering Al-Jazeera: Objectivity and controversy".Also of interest is a Letter to the Editor of the Arab Times in which he mentions being "pushed around by the West". This letter was apparently sent on Sept. 15, 2005.
Most interesting, is this OU student webpage found on the OU system. It is an overview of political unrest in the Middle East. At the bottom "composer" credit goes to the following people; Tariq Alzoubi, Aaron Harner, Matt Sexauer, Adam Envoldson, Zak Abbott, and MOHAMED JIHAD!?!? Interesting indeed...

I fully agree. Keep reading all of the topic for more.

Also via Tapscott's Copy Desk, here's a Washington Post article that points out that any toxic chemicals that mingled with the waters in New Orleans may not have been as severe as the MSM was reporting earlier, and which pretty much knocks down the credibility of the MSM, which seemed to be exaggerating the findings in the area out of political motivations. As Mark says:

The discrediting of the toxic floodwater claims is merely the latest in a long list of major story points that dominated the mainstream media's Katrina coverage that have since been exposed as false. Among those points were the piles of dead bodies allegedly stacked in the Superdome, including a seven-year-old girl who had been raped and whose throat was slashed.

The most significant thing about the Post story, though, is what it doesn't include. Not a single mainstream media editor or academic journalist is asked about the growing list of discredited story points in the Katrina coverage.

Given that Wash. Post is but one of the many members of the big bad MSM, it shouldn't be that surprising that they'd come up short there.

On Instapundit, Glenn Reynolds talks about how the corrupt UK parliamentarian George Galloway's getting what's he's asking for from the US Senate for having taken oil vouchers from Saddam in the yesteryear. The Scotsman reported what happened.

GEORGE Galloway yesterday failed in his attempt to convince a sceptical US Senate investigative committee that he had not profited from oil dealings with Iraq under the UN’s controversial oil-for-food programme.

Despite a typically barnstorming performance full of bluster and rhetorical flourishes, the former Glasgow Kelvin MP was pinned down by persistent questioning over his business relationship with Fawaz Zureikat, the chairman of the Mariam Appeal - set up to assist a four-year-old Iraqi girl suffering from leukaemia.

I'll have to disagree though with where they say that he's full of "bluster". Because truly, he's full of blubber. But here's what really impresses me:

And it was a Democrat senator, Carl Levin, rather than the Republican committee chairman, Norm Coleman, who gave him the hardest time as Mr Galloway sought to turn the tables on his inquisitors, leaving him no closer to clearing his name than when he took his seat in front of the sub-committee of the Senate’s homeland security and government affairs committee in Washington.

Time and again, Mr Levin questioned him, requesting wearily that he deliver a straight answer to a straight question. But Mr Galloway could, or would not.

Great to see that there are indeed some very responsible Dems out there! And they're the ones my family identifies with. Bravo, and three cheers for Senator Levin!

Aarons.cc announces that he's leaving the Republican party. I most certainly can't blame him. The Dubya administration's become a mess in second term, and thanks to that, people are understandably let down.

Margaret Cho calls Michelle Malkin a racist, and the Philadelphia Daily News' Dan Gross is only so pleased to write about the story, in a paper that was never considered very high class by the people in my old neighborhood. It's sickening that Cho should stoop so low, and that Mr. Gross should too, but at least he apologized for what he did later on. Like Michelle, I too am glad for that. (Hat tip: California Conservative.)

Mark in Mexico provides coverage on Rania al-Baz, who was beaten by her husband, and then, for no apparent reason, was stripped of her rights to fly out of the country to Paris, where she was to give a press speech on domestic abuse in Gulf countries. She had since escaped by hiding in a truck en route to Bahrain, and from there took a flight to Paris from Dubai. Her family, however, including her children, are still in the House of Saud.

Ha'aretz, while usually a crummy newspaper, offers a rare gem of a report about a 14-year-old Arab boy from Nablus (Shechem) who'd been in a fight with his father, and was then exploited by Fatah in an attempt to use him as a suicide bomber (Hat tip: Meryl Yourish):

The Shin Bet security services said Wednesday morning said that it has arrested a 14-year-old Palestinian boy from the West Bank town of Nablus on suspicion of planning to carry out a suicide bombing. The boy was arrested Tuesday.

During questioning, the boy said he had an argument with his father and that militants from the Fatah movement in the Balata refugee camp who knew of this attempted to convince him to become a suicide bomber.

According to the boy, the wanted men took him for a motivation talk in an apartment in the refugee camp and even filmed his “video testimony,” in which the boy is seen holding a rifle and announcing his intent to carry out a suicide attack.

If the MSM at large does not report about this, that shows how truly, they care nothing about Islamic child abuse, and if it weren't for Rania Al-Baz's being a prominent journalist, it's quite likely they wouldn't care anything about her own victimization either.

Here's another article on the subject, from Israel National News:

Wanted Tanzim terrorist Rabi'ah Abu Alil originally tried to employ the boy as a suicide bomber after he and his father quarreled over money. The boy refused, and was taken to an apartment by Abu Alil and another wanted Arab terrorist, Jamal Tirawi. Tirawi is also a high ranking Palestinian Authority (PA) intelligence officer, the IDF said.

"Despite the youth's pleas that he be released to his home and left alone, Tirawi and Abu Alil threatened him that if he did not cooperate, they would kill him and distribute a communique claiming he had been collaborating with the Israeli army," the IDF announcement stated. Terrorists photographed the boy wearing a vest and holding a rifle and a copy of the Koran.

The terrorists finally released the youth without harming him. The Associated Press reported that Tirawai responded to the charges by saying that "the Israelis are liars."

"This is not an isolated case," an IDF spokesman said. "Since the beginning of 2005, the number of minors who have been drafted by the different organizations to carry out terror attacks and attacks against Israeli military targets has risen dramatically."

It's quite likely that the 14-year-old slandered the "Israelis" for fear that if he spoke out against the terrorists dominating the area he lives in, he'd be put to death in revenge for daring to speak out against them. That they would use scare tactics against youngsters is simply offensive.

Voice of Judea presents a video of police brutality at the Ozeri funeral and an interview with Shifra Hoffman, director of Victims of Arab Terror International, and also the Shuva Aliyah movement.

A former French UN ambassador, Jean-Bernard Merimee, is now charged with involvement in the Oil-for-food scandal. (Hat tip: Power Line) He was a former adviser to Kofi Annan, and as told here:

The charges against Jean-Bernard Merimee are part of France's investigation into the U.N.'s Oil-for-Food investigation. Merimee, who was taken into custody on Monday, is suspected of having received kickbacks in the form of oil allocations from the regime of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, judicial officials said.

Kickbacks always get into the wrong hands, don't they?

Discover the Network's webblog section reveals that the phony operation called International Solidarity Movement, which had someone of their own who followed in the footsteps of Rachel Corrie in trying to be a "martyr" for the sake of helping terrorism against Israel, that being one Tom Hurndall, who served as a human shield for the monsters who were trying to smuggle in weapons from Egypt in Rafah in the Gaza strip during 2003, exploited his blood to frame an innocent Beduin soldier in the IDF for killing him:

Now it turns out that the real killer of Tom Hurndall was not the Bedouin soldier at all but rather .... (drumroll) .... the British socialized medical system! In the trial of the Bedouin soldier being harassed by the Israeli military court at the behest of the ISM, the defense has presented evidence that the real reason Hurndall died was because of died because of malpractice by his British doctors when he was taken back to Britain. Hurndall actually died of pneumonia, not the gunfire wound.

Well! It's just like these phony peace movements to exploit the blood of the members whom they shamelessly exploit into throwing away their lives, all for the sake of framing innocent patroits who're trying to defend not just the Jewish community but also the Arab community against vicious murderers. I should hope that the following revelations will help exonerate the framed soldiers, and I'd strongly advise everyone to keep a safe distance from ISM for their distasteful crimes.

Condi excuses Kofi's involvement in Oil-for-food

One Jerusalem finds out that US state secratary Condi Rice told a major newspaper (it wouldn't surprise me if it were the NY Times they're talking about) that Kofi Annan, in the Bush administration's opinion, is off the hook in the oil-for-food scandal.

As the blogmasters ask here:

Pardon my ignorance but since when does the Secretray of State have the authority to forgive anyone for a $100 billion scandal - that his relatives benefited from?

And why would anyone look to this incompetent (who may be a thief)to reform any organization? Is Rice as naive as she seems?This interview also sheds light on why the Bush Administration suddenly sweetened its financial offer so that the United Nations can construct a new headquarters.

Believe it or not, but the Oil for Food scandal is not the main reason why Annan should go. Read Dore Gold's The Tower of Babble and you will see Annan refusing to save thousands of innocent Africans and how he has bent over backwards to placate terrorist states.

They are correct. Annan has done nothing genuine to stop the genocide in Sudan and Rwanda, nor to stop the threats of Islamofascist terrorism in the middle east. So it's very appalling if the Bush administration is dismissing Annan's felonies for the sake of...who knows what?

Annan is not a friend of America, Israel, Africa, or any others such countries, and should resign his position as head of the UN.

To make matters worse, as the New York Sun reports:

UNITED NATIONS - A diplomatic group known as the quartet yesterday said it "ultimately" opposes the participation of terrorist groups like Hamas in Palestinian Arab politics. At the same time the group, including Secretary of State Rice, said Hamas would not be barred from participation in an upcoming election.

The contradiction was partly due to conflicts among members of the quartet, which leads Middle East diplomacy. It also exposed the State Department's muddled position on the role of terrorists in the region's transition to democracy.

If they are unable to take a solid position on the Hamas either way, then that pretty much shows why we cannot depend upon either the US government or the UN for ensuring democracy or peace in the region. And especially not between the Arabs and Israel.

Here's more info on the subject from Yahoo News. (Hat tip: Reaganites Unite.)

Update: In a recent issue of the Philadelphia Weekly, the UN's knee-jerk leader, Kofi Annan, was said to be coming to receieve an honorary degree from the Pennsylvania University. And the folks on the homefront weren't happy, for completely justifiable reasons. He's ignored the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, and it's good to see that people are angry at him for that. As one of the members of the university has said:

"Annan snubs his nose at situations like Darfur," says Eric Rechtschaffen, a Penn junior and former president of the school's chapter of the College Republicans. "Considering the controversies surrounding him, like the oil-for-food scandal, it's sad that the administration didn't consult the students about an appropriate choice for commencement speaker."

The university should also be ashamed of itself for inviting him to speak there, while acting totally oblivious to Kofi's disgraceful acts.

There's also a new website now up, called Kofioffcampus.org, urging to petition him off campus and print fliers protesting against him, and featuring breaking news about Kofi as well. I'd strongly recommend checking it out.

U.N. Allowed 'Corrupt Behavior' in Oil-for-Food scandal

From the AP Wire (via FOX News), we discover that the Independent Inquiry Committee has reported that the world's corruption capital, the United Nations, practically allowed evil behavior in the Oil-for-food program:

UNITED NATIONS — A yearlong probe of the Iraq oil-for-food program has concluded that the United Nations allowed "illicit, unethical, and corrupt behavior" to overwhelm the $64 billion operation.

The Independent Inquiry Committee's final report, to be released Wednesday, says the U.N. must adopt sweeping reforms before taking on such tasks again, according to a draft forward. Read the document by clicking here (pdf).

Yet the committee, which is U.N.-appointed and supported, also found that the program succeeded in providing minimal standards of nutrition and health care for millions of Iraqis trying to cope with tough U.N. sanctions imposed after Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. It also helped in the international effort to deprive Saddam of weapons of mass destruction, it said.

While the forward doesn't go into detail about U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (search), an official familiar with the committee's final conclusions said it will criticize him, his predecessor Boutros Boutros-Ghali and the U.N. Security Council, especially Russia and France.

Annan's failure to properly manage the $64 billion program will be strongly criticized, but there is no new "smoking gun" linking him to an oil-for-food contract awarded to the Swiss company Cotecna that employed his son Kojo, the official said Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity because the report had not been released.

The new report will criticize Kojo Annan for trading on his father's name in the purchase of a Mercedes, for which he borrowed money from Michael Wilson, a Cotecna executive who is a friend of Kofi and Kojo Annan, the official said.

The final report is expected to detail the inner workings of oil-for-food over more than 700 pages. Volcker's 1,800-word forward speaks more broadly, assigning blame to nearly every branch of the United Nations, from Annan, to the U.N. agencies that did work in Iraq, to its member states and the 15-nation Security Council.

"As the years passed, reports spread of waste, inefficiency, and corruption even within the U.N. itself," inquiry chief Paul Volcker, former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, wrote in a draft forward of the report. "Some was rumor and exaggeration, but much — too much — of it has turned out to be true."

And that's why the UN should be avoided now by anyone with common sense. This is NOT a democratic organization, but rather, a most utterly evil, moronic one that cares solely about warmongering and money on the side.

Oil-for-food reading assignments

There is more, plenty more, being reported on the bigoted United Nations' oil-for-food scandal, and here's some good coverage of what Kofi Annan and his gang perpetrated under the guise of "diplomacy".

So here we go. For example:

The Wall Street Journal, in keeping track of Kofi Annan's false attempts to modify the UN's policies, confirms that it's just more of the same with Mr. Annan in dealing with terrorism, and even the Oil-for-Food scandal. Simply put, the blueprints he presented for dealing with world reform are nothing more than fake documents, or just mere pieces of paper that he won't honor, and you can be quite sure that he'll be as tolerant as ever of terrorists, even those who attack both America and Israel, for quite some time to come.

IMO, he should resign from politics altogether now.

Also, USS Neverdock reveals that the ultra-establishment BBC did almost the same thing that Annan himself tried to do earlier - to say that he'd been cleared in the investigation into the shortchanging of Iraq's citizens through the oil-for-food scam (The pages are here: link 1, link 2, link 3). Gee, how long has it been since even the Washington Times pointed out that he wasn't?

While we're on the subject, the funniest thing about the first linked report is how they discuss the case of George Galloway and Charles Pasqua receiving bribes from Saddam:

"The Senate names British MP George Galloway and former French minister Charles Pasqua, but gives no evidence either actually received money."

Pardon me? That's just little more than another tiresome attempt to confuse anyone who reads the BBC's mishmash. Please, can't they do better than that? What they got from Saddam was not money as in cash, which one could assume they're trying to imply, but rather, something more valuble than that: vouchers for oil.

Hat tip: Biased BBC weblog.

As told in the Washington Times, the UN's knee-jerk leader, Kofi Annan, has not escaped charges of wrongdoing in the Oil-for-Food scandal. In a recent FOX News interview with Paul Volcker:

Mr. Volcker took direct issue with Mr. Annan's insistence that he had been exonerated by investigators probing both his role in overseeing the Iraq aid program and conflicts of interest involving a key contract awarded to a Swiss firm that employed Mr. Annan's son.

"I thought we criticized [Mr. Annan] rather severely," Mr. Volcker said of his panel's interim report, released March 29. "I would not call that an exoneration."

Asked point-blank whether Mr. Annan had been cleared of wrongdoing in the $10 billion scandal, Mr. Volcker replied, "No."

Mr. Annan has faced calls for his resignation from U.S. critics in the wake of the oil-for-food scandal.

Annan sure does strike me as more than a teeny bit absurd, I must say, to be saying that he's been exonerated when he hasn't. One more reason why his resignation is long overdue.

Strong World: All in the Family. Through this blog, we find out that even Kofi's brother is coming under scrutiny for being involved in the crimes of the UN. The Australian reports that:

Sources close to the inquiry, headed by former US Federal Reserve head Paul Volcker, say Kobina Annan, Ghana's ambassador to Morocco, is connected to an African businessman at the centre of the scandal.

One can only wonder if the whole Annan family will turn out to be guilty, which would make them an equivalent to a mafia clan.

In this article by Claudia Rosett (via Instapundit), she reveals its connections with Enron:

Since the Oil for Food program came to an end in 2003, it has been described--accurately enough--as oil for palaces, oil for terror and oil for fraud. Now it turns out the U.N. relief program in Iraq was also oil for Enron.

Among the great scams of our time, there's a near-poetic inevitability to the convergence of the twain. When I first wrote about Oil for Food on these pages, almost three years ago, the analogy that came instantly to mind was Enron. Lo! Much scandal and many questions later, investigators for Rep. Henry Hyde's International Relations Committee have unearthed documents showing that shortly before Enron imploded in late 2001, the company, among its other deals, was shelling out millions, some of it into Swiss bank accounts, to buy Iraqi crude exported by Saddam under Oil for Food.

I say shut down Enron too.

Others on the subject include:

Roger L. Simon: First Kofi, then Kojo, and now...Kobina?
Joe's Dartblog
Secular Blasphemy
Decision08.Net
Captain's Quarters: Starring Kofi Annan as Archie Bunker
Homercles: Space Monkey Leader
State29: Katy Hansen, UN whitewash
Ranting Right Wing Howler: More Kofi Annan Family Shenanigans

UN bankrolls anti-Israel propaganda

The New York Sun (via Discover the Networks' Moonbat Central) discovers that the United Nations has been funding the latest in anti-Israelist propaganda:

The United Nations bankrolled the production of thousands of banners, bumper stickers, mugs, and T-shirts bearing the slogan "Today Gaza and Tomorrow the West Bank and Jerusalem," which have been widely distributed to Palestinian Arabs in the Gaza Strip, according to a U.N. official.

(snip)

A special representative of the United Nations Development Program in the Gaza Strip, Timothy Rothermel, told Fox News that his office provided financial support for the production of materials that make up the Palestinian Authority's propaganda campaign, timed to coincide with the Gaza pullout. The Palestinian Authority's withdrawal committee developed and produced the posters and other items using U.N. money, Mr. Rothermel said.

In addition to the slogan "Today Gaza and Tomorrow the West Bank and Jerusalem," many of the materials displayed the logo of the United Nations Development Program, which operates in 166 countries and spends about half a billion dollars a year.

Asked by a Fox News correspondent about one of the banners bearing the words implying an impending Palestinian Arab takeover of the disputed areas, Mr. Rothermel, said, "That particular poster was prepared by the disengagement office with financial support from the United Nations Development Program."

This is exactly why not just the US, but also Israel, should leave the United Nations membership. Move America Forward is just the place to join to demand this. This just shows how monstrously corrupt and racist the UN really is, and why they should be avoided.

Other links on the topic include: Aaron's CC, Random Numbers, The Anti-Idiotarian Rotweiler, The Uncooperative Blogger, Secular Blasphemy, The Black Kettle.

Update: Front Page Mag reports that a new scandal has cropped up in the most corrupt political outfit in the world, that being the UN. And in this case, the culprit is UNCA, the United Nations Correspondents Association.

The UNCA is a not-for-profit membership organization, insiders say, whose associates represent most major U.S. and international newspapers and, of course, broadcast networks. Journalists centered at the United Nations are presumably assigned to cover the General Assembly, Security Council and all ancillary U.N. departments and organizations with an impartial eye.

Well well well, isn't that just plain terrific: propagandistic journalists whose only interest is in distorting the truth and concealing it from the public, and even coming up with vicious lies against democracies, have found themselves the perfect nest to ply their trade in.

Let's hope this scandal can be dealt with asap too.

Update: Check out this article on Front Page Magazine to know what the supposedly "moderate" dictator incumbent of the PLO is really like.

Aside from being a communist Holocaust denier and Arafat’s right-hand man for decades, Abbas has always hailed from the same school of moral thought that “Palestine” includes all of Israel and that there’s nothing inherently wrong with suicide bombings. His criticism of terrorism, which is always noted by the media and the international community so eager to embrace him, is based on his belief that slaughtering innocent civilians is merely strategically unhelpful.

Due to the invaluable efforts of Palestinian Media Watch and its director, Itamar Marcus, we know that Abbas’ early tenure suggests he is simply Arafat in Western clothing.

When will Europe and even the US learn to understand what Abbas and his cronies are really like, I wonder?

Front Page Magazine interviews Barry and Judith Colp Rubin on their new book that researches the now dead PLO dictator Yasir Arafat. Some interesting points from Barry Rubin for starters include:

If one examines the objective evidence—the basic history, the events and the statements he made, it is clear that Arafat was very much a strategist of terrorism, someone who sabotaged peace, an extremist and a dictator. In fact, he was never even a true nationalist in the sense of someone whose main priority was to obtain a state and benefit his own people. He was essentially different from the scores of others who led nationalist movements throughout the Third World. That is one of the reasons that Arafat failed and that the conflict remains unresolved today.

And yet the mythology is so powerful that to point out these basic realities is held by many—especially in Europe—to be a highly partisan act of propaganda. Even to identify Arafat with terrorism or point out how he sabotaged the process is simply unacceptable. There are few people so immune to serious examination and evaluation. That is why in the 1970s, intelligence officials labeled Arafat the “teflon terrorist.” Arafat’s greatest success was in the field of public relations. What is especially ironic is that Arabs and Palestinians, especially in private conversation, do not share the Western illusions on this matter.

And, from Judith Colp Rubin:

Arafat seemed to be a mystique to the West, because he didn't act in rational ways that would further the interests of his people. But there was, if you will, a certain method to his madness, certain patterns of behavior that marked his life. Such as: When you are losing is precisely the best time to act as if you're the victor; flexibility encourages pressure on yourself, but if you stand firm, conditions will eventually change in your favor; convince adversaries you are ready to make a deal and that one more concession by them will solve everything; denying responsibility for an action or claiming moderation, no matter how obviously untrue, will make some believe you while others suspend judgment; the man who causes crises is the one others must appease to end them; and few will notice if you say contradictory things to different audiences. For example, Arafat learned that a systematic strategy of terrorism does not inhibit diplomatic gains. He was first invited to speak at the United Nations as he directed a campaign of bloody, anti-civilian terrorism against Israel and a string of international atrocities. Experience taught Arafat that militancy and refusal to compromise kept him popular among his own people and in the Arab world. When Arafat initiated violence, it stifled Palestinian criticism of the incompetence and corruption around him, his unfulfilled promises and failed prophecies. These are but a few examples of the Arafat style.

This could certainly help to figure out how NOT to be fooled by any more such terrorist leaders to come in the future.

Update: and while we're on this, the AP Wire reveals that United Nations officials in Liberia took advantage of local women and girls:

"The allegations range from the exchange of goods, money or services for sex to the sexual exploitation of minors. The peacekeeping department here in New York as well as the mission on the ground are taking appropriate follow-up action," he said.

A UN official speaking on condition of anonymity said the number of allegations could eventually total 20.

The head of the mission in Liberia, Jacques Paul Klein, is to step down when his contract expires at the end of the month, a UN spokesman announced Thursday. His deputy Abou Moussa will temporarily take over.

The allegations of sex abuse in Liberia are just the latest to be leveled against UN peacekeepers who have been accused of exploiting the very people they were sent to protect in missions from Bosnia and Kosovo to Cambodia, East Timor and Congo.

Dujarric said the number of allegations against UN peacekeepers around the world would likely increase.

Just one more example of how devoid of credibility the UN really are. I would strongly advise against donating to UNICEF for their atrocious deeds. And it goes without saying that almost none of the money donated to UNICEF is ever used to make things better for children in poor countries.

For the record, Kofi Annan has told in a recent interview that he doesn't rule out resigning in the wake of the oil-for-food scandal. Let's hope he does more than what he says, and leaves the arena ASAP.