A Smoking Gun For Kofi?
As Thomas would say, "Kofi’s got some ‘splaining to do".
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A newly disclosed memo appeared to cast doubt on U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's insistence he was unaware of a bid by a Swiss firm that employed his son for a lucrative contract under the scandal-tainted U.N. oil-for-food program.
No kidding? I though Kofi was just sweating because how hot the lights were. Or maybe it’s the "’scopes" that are locked onto this right now?
U.N.-appointed investigators were "urgently reviewing" the memo, Michael Holtzman, a spokesman for the Independent Inquiry Committee led by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, said on Tuesday.
The memo described a late-November 1998 Paris meeting of Annan with officials of Cotecna Inspection Services, just weeks before the Geneva-based company won the contract.
Coincidence? There is no such thing in this world. "Coincidence" comes on the rare occasion, and the dice are not rolling well for the UN General Secretary.
The contract has become a focus of Annan's critics, including several U.S. Republican lawmakers who have accused him of mismanagement and called for his resignation.
This man should be forced to resign. The most immense scandal in the world’s history has been delivered to his doorstep. If one were to abide the military chain-of-command, the senior CO is responsible for his men. Kofi should be held to the same scrutiny. This happened on his watch, and he is responsible for this; now, seemingly more so that he originally stated.
Chief U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said Annan had no recollection of any such meeting during the trip to Paris, for a summit of French-speaking world leaders.
Annan's son, Kojo Annan, was a Cotecna consultant at the time of the encounter described in the memo, but it was unclear whether Kojo was present at the encounter. The document was written by Michael Wilson, a family friend of the Annans who was at the time a senior Cotecna executive.
And people claim there is a conspiracy among the Bush family and their friends. For the love of God, Kofi Annan is as dirty as any member of this little conspiracy. Kofi’s doing his best to cover the evidence, but it keeps getting out somehow? Hmmm...Who did Kofi forget to pay off, now?
The one-page Dec. 4, 1998, e-mail, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, was addressed to top Cotecna executives and devoted just two sentences to the U.N. contract matter.
It stated: "We had brief discussions with the SG and his entourage. Their collective advise (sic) was that we should respond as best as we could to the Q&A session of the (sic) 1-12-98 and that we could count on their support."
The memo was first disclosed by the New York Times.
That can be vouched for. The NY Times ran with it first thing this morning. The link is up on Captain’s Quarters.
http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/004712.php
ANNAN HAS 'NO RECOLLECTION'
Annan, in Paris on Tuesday, "has no recollection of any such exchange," Eckhard told reporters.
Of course he has "no recollection" of the meeting or the memo. His neck is on the chopping block, and we are the ones swinging the ax. We want answers, we want the truth, and we are slowly getting both.
A view that the United Nations would support Cotecna's bid "could not have come from the secretary-general because he had no knowledge that Cotecna was a contender for that contract," the spokesman said.
This memo stipulates otherwise. It shows that the UN Secretary General was privy to the dealings of Cotecna, which his son worked for. As Secretary General, this excuse does not even come close to washing; he should have had knowledge of all the contenders for that contract, and I am positive he did.
Cotecna officials later attended a question-and-answer session on the U.N. bidding in New York on Dec. 1, 1998 -- the meeting the memo was apparently referring to. Wilson, in a second memo obtained by Reuters, said the session went well.
I would like to correct Reuters. (That is where the above quotations come from. The link is at the end, though the piece is quoted entirely here.) The session supposedly occurred on January 12th of 1998. According to the above paragraph, that meeting occurred on the First of December—of the same year. Whoops. Sounds like they had this meeting about twelve months prior.
"Our chances of getting the contract are very good. We presented a sound technical tender competitively priced. With the active backing of the Swiss Mission in New York and effective but quite (sic) lobbying within the diplomatic circles in New York, we can expect a positive outcome to our efforts," Wilson wrote.
That sounds like Wilson had an inside track to this deal; one could assume he knew the outcome prior to the meeting. It makes sense based on this statement alone. So, I question the need for the meeting if the UN decided that the company that Kofi Annan’s worked for had already been chosen?
The first memo, commenting on an unrelated matter, referred to the presence at the Paris summit of a Cotecna official identified as "KA," but it was unclear whether this was a reference to Kojo Annan.
Cotecna, U.N. officials and Kojo Annan's lawyers could not immediately say whether he had attended the Paris meeting or been in contact with his father at the time.
Um, DUH! Does anyone expect anything less from a group of lawyers? (Yes, I am studying to become a lawyer, but even I have scruples of whom I would represent.)
Cotecna won a multimillion-dollar U.N. contract on Dec. 31, 1998, to certify goods coming into Iraq under the $67-billion oil-for-food program, which ran from late 1996 until 2003.
The program is under investigation by several U.S. congressional committees as well as the Volcker panel.
The program allowed Iraq, then under U.N. sanctions, to export oil and use the proceeds to import humanitarian goods.
I did not know that advanced, forbidden weaponry fell under the definition of "humanitarian goods". Yes, I did state the above. Forget the WMDs—the subject the Left loves to hype, but refuses to truly recognize—instead, look to the fighter jets and their French retrofits, the mobile chem-weapons labs from Germany, and the long-range missiles from our enemies, including North Korea—a nation that also gave them forbidden nuclear technology.
A report released by the Volcker committee in late March concluded Annan did not influence the contract award.
I believe Kofi used the word "exonerated", and I did not trust that assessment then. It is nice to know that I am right one more occasions than one.
Cotecna, which said it uncovered the memo only recently, reiterated in a statement its view that it had won the contract "fairly and on the basis of price."
Right, and John Kerry ran clandestine operations into Cambodia, too. Look, this is real simple: Kofi has been caught, and the UN is covering for him. This latest piece of evidence to come out of the Oil-For-Food Scandal shows that we need someone like Bolton in the UN more than ever.
And as for Kofi, should this memo prove to be true, it is time to remove the little man that once thought he was "president of the world". Not even close, sir; that belongs to the "player to be named later", as Thomas would put it. Kofi Annan is a petty man, and the United Nations is a petty organization; neither of which have any ideas about promoting world peace. Their idea of world peace is who can we screw over now.
In my opinion, the United States has been screwed long enough. It is time to get off the train before the impending wreck kills us all.
The Bunny ;)
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=16227_Kofis_Smoking_Memo&only
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=8789688
As Thomas would say, "Kofi’s got some ‘splaining to do".
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A newly disclosed memo appeared to cast doubt on U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's insistence he was unaware of a bid by a Swiss firm that employed his son for a lucrative contract under the scandal-tainted U.N. oil-for-food program.
No kidding? I though Kofi was just sweating because how hot the lights were. Or maybe it’s the "’scopes" that are locked onto this right now?
U.N.-appointed investigators were "urgently reviewing" the memo, Michael Holtzman, a spokesman for the Independent Inquiry Committee led by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, said on Tuesday.
The memo described a late-November 1998 Paris meeting of Annan with officials of Cotecna Inspection Services, just weeks before the Geneva-based company won the contract.
Coincidence? There is no such thing in this world. "Coincidence" comes on the rare occasion, and the dice are not rolling well for the UN General Secretary.
The contract has become a focus of Annan's critics, including several U.S. Republican lawmakers who have accused him of mismanagement and called for his resignation.
This man should be forced to resign. The most immense scandal in the world’s history has been delivered to his doorstep. If one were to abide the military chain-of-command, the senior CO is responsible for his men. Kofi should be held to the same scrutiny. This happened on his watch, and he is responsible for this; now, seemingly more so that he originally stated.
Chief U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said Annan had no recollection of any such meeting during the trip to Paris, for a summit of French-speaking world leaders.
Annan's son, Kojo Annan, was a Cotecna consultant at the time of the encounter described in the memo, but it was unclear whether Kojo was present at the encounter. The document was written by Michael Wilson, a family friend of the Annans who was at the time a senior Cotecna executive.
And people claim there is a conspiracy among the Bush family and their friends. For the love of God, Kofi Annan is as dirty as any member of this little conspiracy. Kofi’s doing his best to cover the evidence, but it keeps getting out somehow? Hmmm...Who did Kofi forget to pay off, now?
The one-page Dec. 4, 1998, e-mail, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, was addressed to top Cotecna executives and devoted just two sentences to the U.N. contract matter.
It stated: "We had brief discussions with the SG and his entourage. Their collective advise (sic) was that we should respond as best as we could to the Q&A session of the (sic) 1-12-98 and that we could count on their support."
The memo was first disclosed by the New York Times.
That can be vouched for. The NY Times ran with it first thing this morning. The link is up on Captain’s Quarters.
http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/004712.php
ANNAN HAS 'NO RECOLLECTION'
Annan, in Paris on Tuesday, "has no recollection of any such exchange," Eckhard told reporters.
Of course he has "no recollection" of the meeting or the memo. His neck is on the chopping block, and we are the ones swinging the ax. We want answers, we want the truth, and we are slowly getting both.
A view that the United Nations would support Cotecna's bid "could not have come from the secretary-general because he had no knowledge that Cotecna was a contender for that contract," the spokesman said.
This memo stipulates otherwise. It shows that the UN Secretary General was privy to the dealings of Cotecna, which his son worked for. As Secretary General, this excuse does not even come close to washing; he should have had knowledge of all the contenders for that contract, and I am positive he did.
Cotecna officials later attended a question-and-answer session on the U.N. bidding in New York on Dec. 1, 1998 -- the meeting the memo was apparently referring to. Wilson, in a second memo obtained by Reuters, said the session went well.
I would like to correct Reuters. (That is where the above quotations come from. The link is at the end, though the piece is quoted entirely here.) The session supposedly occurred on January 12th of 1998. According to the above paragraph, that meeting occurred on the First of December—of the same year. Whoops. Sounds like they had this meeting about twelve months prior.
"Our chances of getting the contract are very good. We presented a sound technical tender competitively priced. With the active backing of the Swiss Mission in New York and effective but quite (sic) lobbying within the diplomatic circles in New York, we can expect a positive outcome to our efforts," Wilson wrote.
That sounds like Wilson had an inside track to this deal; one could assume he knew the outcome prior to the meeting. It makes sense based on this statement alone. So, I question the need for the meeting if the UN decided that the company that Kofi Annan’s worked for had already been chosen?
The first memo, commenting on an unrelated matter, referred to the presence at the Paris summit of a Cotecna official identified as "KA," but it was unclear whether this was a reference to Kojo Annan.
Cotecna, U.N. officials and Kojo Annan's lawyers could not immediately say whether he had attended the Paris meeting or been in contact with his father at the time.
Um, DUH! Does anyone expect anything less from a group of lawyers? (Yes, I am studying to become a lawyer, but even I have scruples of whom I would represent.)
Cotecna won a multimillion-dollar U.N. contract on Dec. 31, 1998, to certify goods coming into Iraq under the $67-billion oil-for-food program, which ran from late 1996 until 2003.
The program is under investigation by several U.S. congressional committees as well as the Volcker panel.
The program allowed Iraq, then under U.N. sanctions, to export oil and use the proceeds to import humanitarian goods.
I did not know that advanced, forbidden weaponry fell under the definition of "humanitarian goods". Yes, I did state the above. Forget the WMDs—the subject the Left loves to hype, but refuses to truly recognize—instead, look to the fighter jets and their French retrofits, the mobile chem-weapons labs from Germany, and the long-range missiles from our enemies, including North Korea—a nation that also gave them forbidden nuclear technology.
A report released by the Volcker committee in late March concluded Annan did not influence the contract award.
I believe Kofi used the word "exonerated", and I did not trust that assessment then. It is nice to know that I am right one more occasions than one.
Cotecna, which said it uncovered the memo only recently, reiterated in a statement its view that it had won the contract "fairly and on the basis of price."
Right, and John Kerry ran clandestine operations into Cambodia, too. Look, this is real simple: Kofi has been caught, and the UN is covering for him. This latest piece of evidence to come out of the Oil-For-Food Scandal shows that we need someone like Bolton in the UN more than ever.
And as for Kofi, should this memo prove to be true, it is time to remove the little man that once thought he was "president of the world". Not even close, sir; that belongs to the "player to be named later", as Thomas would put it. Kofi Annan is a petty man, and the United Nations is a petty organization; neither of which have any ideas about promoting world peace. Their idea of world peace is who can we screw over now.
In my opinion, the United States has been screwed long enough. It is time to get off the train before the impending wreck kills us all.
The Bunny ;)
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=16227_Kofis_Smoking_Memo&only
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=8789688
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 6:34 PM
1 Comments:
Good blog. I've said all along Annan doesn't pass the smell test. In fact he stinks in more ways than one. If I were a protester, which I'm not, my sign would read on both sides in red, white and blue: EVICT THE UN-HANG ANNAN! Rawriter
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