Wow!!

[Ranger Mom]

This is an e-mail I received, and it's stories like this that I can relate to!!


At Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington DC
recently the Sergeant Major of the Army, Jack
Tilley, was with a group of people visiting the
wounded soldiers. He saw a Special Forces soldier
who had lost his right hand and suffered severe
wounds of his face and side of his body
The Sergeant Major of the Army wanted to honor him
and show him respect without offending, but what can
you say or do in such a situation that will
encourage and uplift? How do you shake the right
hand of a soldier who has none?

There was a man in that group of visitors who had
his wife with him to visit the wounded. He seemed to
knew exactly what to do. This man reverently took
the soldiers stump of a hand in both of his hands,
knelt at the bedside and prayed for him. When he
finished the prayer, he stood up, bent over the
soldier and kissed him on the head and told him that
he loved him.

A powerful expression of love and Christ-like
example, for one of our wounded heroes.

What kind of a man would do such a thing?

The wounded man's Commander-in-Chief,

George W. Bush; President of the U. S.

This story was told by the Sergeant Major of the
Army, at a Soldiers Breakfast held at Redstone
Arsenal, AL, and recorded by Chaplain James
Henderson, stationed there.

Pass it on... the press won't.

[BIG BLUE DEFENSIVE END]

Oh my gosh, Bush has a heart? He can frantically run around and look under tables in the White House to search for WMDs and make a mockary of the troops overseas who originally went into the country to find the WMDs, and then he has the audasity to go into Iraq to visit the wounded and pray for this brave man who suffered the consequences of his mistake, and then have the story circulated to give people the impression that he is a noble person. I don't think so. I think that it is great that he prayed for the man, but how can he look that man in the eyes after everything that he has put him through? If I were in his shoes, I know that I couldn't, and I don't think that any of the posters on this website could do it either.

[Ranger Mom]

Hmmmm........I STILL think it was nice story!!:)

[Greenwood Teach]

RangerMom,
That is powerful, isn't it! It all goes to show what a wonderful leader that we have.

I would really like to make a remark about the other above reply, but it's best if I don't.

[sinton66]

It is a good story, and it's true. Just for your information BBDE, the soldier he visited was wounded in the Afganistan campaign, not in Iraq. If you have no idea what you're talking about, you really shouldn't reply.

[crzyjournalist03]

Originally posted by BIG BLUE DEFENSIVE END
Oh my gosh, Bush has a heart? He can frantically run around and look under tables in the White House to search for WMDs and make a mockary of the troops overseas who originally went into the country to find the WMDs, and then he has the audasity to go into Iraq to visit the wounded and pray for this brave man who suffered the consequences of his mistake, and then have the story circulated to give people the impression that he is a noble person. I don't think so. I think that it is great that he prayed for the man, but how can he look that man in the eyes after everything that he has put him through? If I were in his shoes, I know that I couldn't, and I don't think that any of the posters on this website could do it either.


In case you've forgotten, we have voluntary armed forces. The men and women overseas chose to put themselves in the position to get sent out to serve our country. If they were not willing to put themselves at risk, they wouldn't have signed up to serve in the first place.

[vet93]

BBDE...Bush can look that man in the eye just like FDR could look in the eyes of the men and women he sent to war and just like George Washington could look in the eyes of his suffering troops at Valley Forge and on and on. American presidents have had to send troops to their deaths all over the world for the cause of freedom and to end tyranny. Many times these troops died defending another countries' soil, but that doesn't make their sacrifice any less right or noble. Sending men into battle is never easy nor done in a carefree manner but Bush had to do it so that he could look that young man in the eye and say that I did everything in my power that I knew to do to keep your sons and daughters from sharing your fate. You cannot fake this type of love and genuine concern. There is literally story after story of Bush doing similar things for other people. Many times the press is not there and the only ones left to tell the story are the people who were genuinely touched by his kindness. It is too bad that you cannot see past the cynicism of political rhetoric to see these acts for what they are.

[slpybear the bullfan]

Until anyone on here has had to order men into harms way... you would not have the slightest clue how GW or any other commander from the smallest section leader up to the CinC himself should feel.

Those of you that have been in harms way or led others into it... Thank you.

[lobo12]

Great story Ranger Mom. I support the president 100%

[Old Dog]

Thanks for that knot in the throat story.....really moving to me!

[SintonFan]

Originally posted by BIG BLUE DEFENSIVE END
Oh my gosh, Bush has a heart? He can frantically run around and look under tables in the White House to search for WMDs and make a mockary of the troops overseas who originally went into the country to find the WMDs, and then he has the audasity to go into Iraq to visit the wounded and pray for this brave man who suffered the consequences of his mistake, and then have the story circulated to give people the impression that he is a noble person. I don't think so. I think that it is great that he prayed for the man, but how can he look that man in the eyes after everything that he has put him through? If I were in his shoes, I know that I couldn't, and I don't think that any of the posters on this website could do it either.
.
.
BBDE, you're about to go onto my bozo filter...
First off, just how many lies do you buy?
When was it ever said our guys were sent to Iraq for just WMDs? They also were sent because Iraq harbored terrorist(and their intentions). Remember 9-11? Yeah, Bush decided to take the fight to the terrorists' soil. Do you believe we should keep the fight on our own soil? Should we have another 9-11 or worse?
Secondly....
Afganistan was OK but Iraq was not? Please tell me we should have not invaded Afganistan...please.
Now answer me this... should we leave Iraq now, with the job not finished. Just how much bunk are you going to buy?
Lastly, I'm going to vote this November. Ya wanna know why? I've heard talk about how Bush is going to win anyway. That build's complacancy. That will get Kerry elected. That is just a horrible thought. Elect him and we won't have a military to defend us, period! He has the most liberal track record of all Senators. He voted to kill new military spending(and technologies) on every occasion possible. The effect of that would have resulted in more US casualties. MORE US CASUALTIES!
Now go look yourself in a mirror and tell yourself you still support Kerry for President.
I haven't even hit the tip of the iceberg. Don't get me started....

[CatWoman]

RangerMom, that is a great story. I am not of a "political" nature, but I admire George W. Bush for his Christian values and not being afraid to state them and I personally believe his statements in your story were genuine. Thank for sharing.

[CatWoman]

ttt

[ej2525]

BBDE.... Who appointed you Almighty? The comment YOU made (I quote) "who suffered the consequences of his mistake". Why don't you move to Canada or France and do us a favor!! If you had a relative, friend, etc... who voluntarily joined the military would you disown them because you think they are making a "mistake"? You might as well!! Those men & women believe in what they are doing over there.

I love your tag line "Fight 'em till hell freezes over, then fight 'em on the ice". I don't think you have the guts (wanted to use another word) to "Fight 'em till hell freezes over, then fight 'em on the ice". Those men & women here at home & overseas have the guts to do something you don't! :mad: :mad: :mad:

[JasperDog94]

As much as I would like to add into this discussion, I don't think I've got anything to offer that hasn't already been said.

[Wildcat81]

That was really a great story. I liked it. :clap: :clap:

[Old No. 7]

Good story. I hope it was true. I wasn't there to disagree with anyone. I will say this. This is why most fraturnities do not allow the discussion of religon or politics. It always provokes an argument. May God bless all.

[vet93]

Open discourse on these two subjects is what makes America great. What I think is sad is:

1. People whose politics have become their religion and
2. People whose religion has become nothing more than politics.


Originally posted by Old No. 7
Good story. I hope it was true. I wasn't there to disagree with anyone. I will say this. This is why most fraturnities do not allow the discussion of religon or politics. It always provokes an argument. May God bless all.

[CatWoman]

Originally posted by vet93
Open discourse on these two subjects is what makes America great. What I think is sad is:

1. People whose politics have become their religion and
2. People whose religion has become nothing more than politics.

Amen.

[Bandera YaYa]

I agree with you JasperDog......don't understand people who still critize Bush for trying to end terrorism......if seeing those barbarians yesterday cheering in the streets after burning 9 Americans and hanging them on bridges, Americans that were over their helping rebuild Iraq...doesn't make you understand what Bush is trying to do, nothing will. John Kerry will make us sitting ducks for all kinds of terrorism, if he gets elected. It's nice to want to live in a peaceful world, but until that is a reality, we have to fight for what is right and human. I believe God wants us to fight for the abused and the terrorized in this world. I guess we can always shut our borders down and simply exist within our own country...heaven knows how much abuse and terror we Americans do to our own.

[BullsFan]

Thanks for posting the email, RangerMom. Irregardless of the results, it was a nice story. :)

[Mean_Machine]

Originally posted by Bandera YaYa
I agree with you JasperDog......don't understand people who still critize Bush for trying to end terrorism......if seeing those barbarians yesterday cheering in the streets after burning 9 Americans and hanging them on bridges, Americans that were over their helping rebuild Iraq...doesn't make you understand what Bush is trying to do, nothing will. John Kerry will make us sitting ducks for all kinds of terrorism, if he gets elected. It's nice to want to live in a peaceful world, but until that is a reality, we have to fight for what is right and human. I believe God wants us to fight for the abused and the terrorized in this world. I guess we can always shut our borders down and simply exist within our own country...heaven knows how much abuse and terror we Americans do to our own. End Terrorisim?? Try Nation building.. He CREATED a 100 Binladens by what he is doing in IRAQ. Bush didnt do anything to douse the fire of Terrorisim... he threw Gas on it... fight for the abused and terroized.... hmmmm well then You want to save the Oppressed people of North Korea?, Iran?Cuba? where does it end?? I will tell you .. If Kerry ever Invades a Country for ANY reason you will say something is wrong with it.

[pero chato]

Originally posted by Mean_Machine
End Terrorisim?? Try Nation building.. He CREATED a 100 Binladens by what he is doing in IRAQ. Bush didnt do anything to douse the fire of Terrorisim... he threw Gas on it... fight for the abused and terroized.... hmmmm well then You want to save the Oppressed people of North Korea?, Iran?Cuba? where does it end?? I will tell you .. If Kerry ever Invades a Country for ANY reason you will say something is wrong with it.

I will partially agree Mean Machine (never thought I'd say that, did you?!) To add to your comments on North Korea and Iran, there is no place more repressed than some of the nations in Africa where slavery and genocide are practiced, and yet we don't invade those countries to save people from those atrocities. We realistically cannot police the world, but we can defend our nation against those countries who have vowed to destroy us. However, as far as Bush creating 100 Bin Ladens, I do disagree. I think it's our religion, wealth, lifestyles, and alliance with Israel that leads to such hatred. Saddam proclaimed "death to America" years before Bush took office. He would have eventually aquired nukes and used them against us, according to reports I read 15 years ago. And I believe that most of the Iraqis and Arabs are glad that Saddam is deposed. I do back President Bush in the war, but would've backed Clinton had he gone after Bin Laden in '93 when the World Trade Center was bombed, and after the USS Cole was attacked, and after the embassy in Africa was bombed, etc. WMD's will probably never be found because Saddam had plenty of time to destroy them, not to mention they could fit inside of one truck. Saddam was the WMD from the results of his actions over the past 20 years.

[Old Cardinal]

Thank you Ranger Mom for sharing that touching story.....I don't believe a 16 year old is writing the BBDE stuff!

[BIG BLUE DEFENSIVE END]

All ya'll do is praise him even though he was jumping under the tables and making fun of his mistake? You talk to me like I'm a bad person for seeing something wrong with this, but you have nothing to say about what he did? C'mon now people, lets get our heads out of our rears and look at what is in front of us. Ya'll asked me how much crap I'm going to buy into, how do ya'll know that this is true in itself? I'm in no way calling Ranger Mom a liar, I happen to highly respect her and I wouldn't do that. I'm glad that he whooped Osama's rear and ran him out, and no, we cannnot leave Iraq, because if we do, we'll be back in a few years. I do understand that people volunteer for the armed forces, and how many of you out there have served in the army? You accuse me of not wanting to fight till hell freezes over and fight them on the ice because I don't have what it takes, but have any of ya'll? I have every intention of enlisting after I graduate from college. Ya'll accuse me of being spineless, and here you are adults, and TALKING a fight, not participating in one.

[Old Tiger]

your to uptight bbde...mellow out man

[crzyjournalist03]

Originally posted by BIG BLUE DEFENSIVE END
All ya'll do is praise him even though he was jumping under the tables and making fun of his mistake? You talk to me like I'm a bad person for seeing something wrong with this, but you have nothing to say about what he did? C'mon now people, lets get our heads out of our rears and look at what is in front of us. Ya'll asked me how much crap I'm going to buy into, how do ya'll know that this is true in itself? I'm in no way calling Ranger Mom a liar, I happen to highly respect her and I wouldn't do that. I'm glad that he whooped Osama's rear and ran him out, and no, we cannnot leave Iraq, because if we do, we'll be back in a few years. I do understand that people volunteer for the armed forces, and how many of you out there have served in the army? You accuse me of not wanting to fight till hell freezes over and fight them on the ice because I don't have what it takes, but have any of ya'll? I have every intention of enlisting after I graduate from college. Ya'll accuse me of being spineless, and here you are adults, and TALKING a fight, not participating in one.


We caught Osama?! :eek: :p :thinking: :doh:

[BIG BLUE DEFENSIVE END]

Originally posted by Old Cardinal
Thank you Ranger Mom for sharing that touching story.....I don't believe a 16 year old is writing the BBDE stuff!

Well, seeing as how I'm writing this stuff AND talking to Ranger Mom on AIM at the same time, how could I not be? Are you intimidated by the fact that I'm only 16 and I don't back down to you? You're the person throwing around false accusations about my family and myself, and I don't appreciate it. If you don't think that I'm 16, that is perfectly fine, it has no direct effect on my life.

[BIG BLUE DEFENSIVE END]

No, we haven't caught Osama, but I know that we will sooner or later.

[Ranger Mom]

WHAT??? I'm not talking to you right now unless you are marlinfan, Jason or 3afan2k3!!

[BIG BLUE DEFENSIVE END]

Originally posted by SintonFan
.
.
BBDE, you're about to go onto my bozo filter...
First off, just how many lies do you buy?
When was it ever said our guys were sent to Iraq for just WMDs? They also were sent because Iraq harbored terrorist(and their intentions). Remember 9-11? Yeah, Bush decided to take the fight to the terrorists' soil. Do you believe we should keep the fight on our own soil? Should we have another 9-11 or worse?
Secondly....
Afganistan was OK but Iraq was not? Please tell me we should have not invaded Afganistan...please.
Now answer me this... should we leave Iraq now, with the job not finished. Just how much bunk are you going to buy?
Lastly, I'm going to vote this November. Ya wanna know why? I've heard talk about how Bush is going to win anyway. That build's complacancy. That will get Kerry elected. That is just a horrible thought. Elect him and we won't have a military to defend us, period! He has the most liberal track record of all Senators. He voted to kill new military spending(and technologies) on every occasion possible. The effect of that would have resulted in more US casualties. MORE US CASUALTIES!
Now go look yourself in a mirror and tell yourself you still support Kerry for President.
I haven't even hit the tip of the iceberg. Don't get me started....

Well, I had no idea that the troop was from Afghanistan, but I still stand by what I said about Bush. We DID in fact go into Iraq because they had WMDs, or so Bush said in one of his many addresses to the nation. He said it himself, so what else is there to debate about. Sure, he was a tyrant, I know that, and everybody else does. How do we know that if we would have left Iraq alone it would have led to more U.S. casualties. You accuse me of buying into lies, but this is coming from Bush and his word is as good as gold to you. You can ignore me if you would like, I'm just saying what I think about the whole thing, and I'm not saying that you have to agree with me, it's just that some of the things that Bush does irritates me, and I'm going to continue to voice my opinion, whether you believe it or not. I'm not saying that Kerry is perfect either, he has his faults, and I do disagree with him on many aspects, but Bush as a person would be the reason that he would not get my vote.

[Old Tiger]

BBDE isn't very social...it's like he gots a block on being social or something... :D:D

[BIG BLUE DEFENSIVE END]

And this is coming from a 16 year old who posts under the name Old Tiger as a resort to gain respect from other posters?

[Old Tiger]

lol...your crazy man

[KaktusJack]

Big Blue Boy it sure is a fun time to read your posts. Your ignorance and immaturity are coming through and through. Keep typing there BOY, comic relief is vital. The Ted "Bloated Alcaholic Murderer" Kennedy has you hooked son. That is definetly your problem though Boy. You sound like a screwed up person. GET HELP BOY.

[BIG BLUE DEFENSIVE END]

Okay, first off, you're the one being immature. You get on here and criticize my beliefs and called me a screwed up person, while all you have to offer is slander towards my name. I think that you need to look into the mirror, because if any of the two of us are screwed up, it is yourself. I think that the board reaches a low when a guy at the age of 42 gets on here and tries to talk down upon other posters for their beliefs. I sure am glad this board has the ignore feature....I think it's going to come in handy. Since I won't be reading anything you write from now on, get some help before you post again.

[jason]

Originally posted by KaktusJack
Big Blue Boy it sure is a fun time to read your posts. Your ignorance and immaturity are coming through and through. Keep typing there BOY, comic relief is vital. The Ted "Bloated Alcaholic Murderer" Kennedy has you hooked son. That is definetly your problem though Boy. You sound like a screwed up person. GET HELP BOY. whats with the 'boy' references? you sound ignorant when you say it, if you dont agree with him then just dont say anything....

...i got ur back BBDE, even though I dont agree with EVERYTHING you say...

[BIG BLUE DEFENSIVE END]

Thanks Jason

[Knightmoon]

Great story Ranger Mom

[Old Tiger]

It's fun to be a kid.

[SintonFan]

Originally posted by BIG BLUE DEFENSIVE END
Well, I had no idea that the troop was from Afghanistan, but I still stand by what I said about Bush. We DID in fact go into Iraq because they had WMDs, or so Bush said in one of his many addresses to the nation. He said it himself, so what else is there to debate about. Sure, he was a tyrant, I know that, and everybody else does. How do we know that if we would have left Iraq alone it would have led to more U.S. casualties. You accuse me of buying into lies, but this is coming from Bush and his word is as good as gold to you. You can ignore me if you would like, I'm just saying what I think about the whole thing, and I'm not saying that you have to agree with me, it's just that some of the things that Bush does irritates me, and I'm going to continue to voice my opinion, whether you believe it or not. I'm not saying that Kerry is perfect either, he has his faults, and I do disagree with him on many aspects, but Bush as a person would be the reason that he would not get my vote.
.
Nahh, I won't put you on the bozo list. I will fully take that back.:cool:
What I was referring to earlier about having "more US casualties" was in relation to Kerry's votes to cut military spending and research. If Kerry would have been successful with his anti-military votes then we could have had many more casualies in Iraq. Several of these newer technologies have resulted in fewer US deaths.
KaktusJack, that was way uncalled for.:eek: :confused:

[sinton66]

BBDE, you may not like Bush as a person, and that is your priviledge, but you cannot say it was all his idea about WMD's in Iraq. That is simply not true. As Slpybear proved with quoted statements by your Dems, everybody was convinced. Hussein had twelve years of defying UN resolutions to dispose, hide or otherwise make WMD's disappear. There could be vast stores buried in the desert somewhere. Those Iraqi citizens that would be in the know are now in US custody. Can you really expect them to co-operate with the investigations(since they're basically in jail)? For all we know, those in custody may firmly believe that their people need these weapons to survive. If I were in their shoes and believed that, I wouldn't be forthcoming with info either despite any monetary offers by the US. It is possible we jumped in before the stores were made, but everybody knew what he was up to. It wouldn't have been long before he would have had nuclear weapons.

I, for one, commend Bush for his swift and decisive action. The fact that he had to do it with little or no support from the member nations of the UN simply demonstrated the ineffectiveness of that organization. They passed resolution after resolution that Hussein ignored. Resolutions aren't worth the paper they're written on if you don't have the brass to back it up. The US has ALWAYS been the teeth behind UN resolutions. Without our might and money, the UN would be an empty vessel.

As far as us not being the world police force, if not us, who then? The French? The Germans?, The Russians? Canada? What other entity on earth is CAPABLE of doing it? We are the bastion of freedom on this rock, and as such, what choice do we have? It's NOT empire building as some suggest, but our own defense. If 9/11 proved anything, it is that ANYBODY is vulnerable to sneak attack.

[jason]

:clap:

[ej2525]

Well stated Sinton66!!

[SintonFan]

Great point 66!:clap:
.
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Let me add this article from caller.com:
Why character matters
By Dan Thomasson
March 30, 2004

If you have ever wondered about the far-reaching impact President Bill Clinton’s sexual affair with a White House intern had on the nation’s security, wonder no more. If you believe Richard Clarke, it had a direct bearing on the national response to terrorism and Osama bin Laden.

Clinton, according to Clarke, was hamstrung by concerns that the public generally and political enemies specifically would perceive a strong military effort to take out al-Qaida and capture its leader as a "Wag the Dog" scenario aimed at diverting their attention from his philandering. (In that movie, a fake war is begun to deflect attention from a presidential sex scandal.) As a result, opportunities that might have disrupted the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America were passed up.

At least that’s what the former antiterrorist chief who has become the nemesis of the current White House conceded on national television on Sunday in a bit of candor that belies the thesis of his book that the real culprit was George W. Bush, who failed to take the terrorists seriously while worrying about Iraq. Clarke should know about the Clinton problem. He was there for the full eight years of that presidency as well as the months of Bush’s before 9/11 and for some time after. His tenure in the Bush administration after he was put in a lesser position mainly seemed devoted to writing the book that has been selling like hotcakes.

Is there any other reason for voters to pay attention to the personal lives of would-be presidents even in a day when it seems that sexual exploits no longer count in measuring character or qualifications for the White House? One would have had to be anesthetized not to be aware of Clinton’s proclivities. They were a well-established fact during the years that he was governor of Arkansas, reported on and alluded to frequently both publicly and privately. He saved his campaign in 1992 by going on national television with his wife in a sort of mea culpa to counter accusations by Gennifer Flowers that they had a longtime intimate relationship.

Scandal colored his decisions

Should Clinton have been impeached for the Monica Lewinsky or Paula Jones scandals? He probably should not have been, but he probably should not have been elected in the first place, given the cost to the country of his irresponsibility. That is, if Clarke’s assessment is as accurate as the Democrats tell us it is about Bush.

The public exposure and the threat to Clinton’s presidency that these matters caused quite obviously colored his decisions at a crucial time. And while he sent some bombers over Iraq, used some cruise missiles and intervened in the Balkans, the real threat — bin Laden and his well-financed and -organized followers — wasn’t dealt with. To do so forcefully, the president would have needed enormous credibility. His had been badly damaged, nationally and internationally.

In its assessment of the failures leading to 9/11, the national panel investigating the tragedy can’t ignore Clarke’s latest statement and have any authenticity of its own. This is an investigation that Clarke has single-handedly politicized by his allegations against Bush in the midst of a presidential campaign. It is just plain stupid to argue as some have that Bush has aggravated the situation by attacking Clarke. After all, these charges go directly to the heart of his presidency and his efforts to win re-election. Allowing them to stand unchallenged would be an admission of their correctness.

Now it turns out that bin Laden and much of his network might have been put out of commission had Bush’s predecessor not been compromised by his own sexual immaturity. His concerns should not have been how he was perceived, but what was right for the country. Whether he would have had the public support for a major military operation is doubtful, but considerations of his own personal problems should not have entered into the equation. All this proves that character does matter.

Dan Thomasson is former editor of the Scripps Howard News Service.

[SintonFan]

This is for all the folks like mean machine and others who have been touting the UN.
Why were they against us invading IRAQ?!
From IHT.com:
William Safire: UN kickbacks in Iraq
William Safire NYT Thursday, March 18, 2004
WASHINGTON The cover-up in the office of the United Nations secretary general of a multibillion-dollar financial fraud known as the Iraqi oil-for-food program is beginning to come apart.
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The scandal has been brewing for years. The first I learned of it was in a New York Times Op-Ed article last April by the journalist Claudia Rosett charging that the secretive UN oversight of more than $100 billion in Iraqi oil exports and supposed humanitarian imports was "an invitation to kickbacks, political back-scratching and smuggling done under cover of relief operations."
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After checking with Kurdish sources in Iraq, I reported that half the money allocated to their people had been blocked by Saddam Hussein "conspiring with bureaucrats in the UN Plaza."
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Kofi Annan's right-hand man, Benon Sevan, had been named by the secretary general to head the oil-for-food program and report directly to him. Though he could not deny a favored French banking connection, Sevan branded as "inaccuracies" charges by Rosett and me of secrecy, citing a hundred audits in five years. But he refused to make public what companies in what countries got Saddam's largess.
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Now, thanks to evidence of systematic thievery on a huge scale, discovered by free Iraqis in Baghdad, the whole rotten mess of 10 percent kickbacks on billions in contracts is coming to light. In detailed accounts, Susan Sachs in The New York Times, Therese Raphael in The Wall Street Journal, and Charles Laurence and Inigo Gilmore of The Daily Telegraph, in London, have flipped over the flat rock of corruption.
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Sevan, now on an extended vacation until his retirement next month, denied through a spokesman that he had "received oil or oil monies from the former Iraqi regime" and demanded that his doubters produce documentary evidence. The Journal then produced a document in Arabic that suggests Sevan received an allocation of 1.8 million barrels of oil.
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Under the nose of the UN bureaucracy - and I suspect, in some cases, with its collusion - nearly three-quarters of the suppliers jacked up their prices to pay the 10 percent kickback. These included European manufacturers, Arab trade brokers, Russian factories and Chinese state-owned companies. Corruption's take was estimated by Sachs of The New York Times at $2.3 billion.
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Hired by the United Nations to monitor these imports was a Swiss-based firm, Cotecna, which was paid out of the exorbitant fee the United Nations charged for overheads. Rosett, writing in the National Review last week, notes that Kojo Annan, the secretary general's son, was once on staff and later a consultant to that tight-lipped company. In denying to The Daily Telegraph in 1999 that he worked on the UN oil-for-food account, Kojo Annan said, "The decision is made by the contracts committee, not by Kofi Annan."
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About that "661 compliance committee," on which the United States has a seat and to which the secretary general now wants to pass the buck: A U.S. official familiar with its operation tells me that "its purpose was formally to approve what the UN staff recommended. Only the U.S. and U.K. experts ever put a hold on a contract, and that about items that had dual use in weaponry. Few U.S. firms got contracts, and those that did worked through middlemen to avoid the General Accounting Office."
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Annan's office kept blaming the 661 committee and stonewalling the press until an irate Iraqi Governing Council hired the accountants KPMG and a law firm to investigate what its advisers told Annan was "one of the world's most disgraceful scams." Under mounting pressure, this week the United Nations let it be known that its laughably titled Office of Internal Oversight Services would look into the matter. An internal whitewash? Not nearly good enough.
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Will the Security Council appoint an independent counsel to clean house in an inept or corrupt secretariat? No, because France and Russia had their hands in the kickback till.
.
But free Iraq, backed up by the United States, is not helpless. The U.S. Congress supplies 22 percent of the UN budget, and Americans have a right to an accounting. Henry Hyde, chairman of the House international relations committee, calls this "an outrage" and will arrange for a General Accounting Office briefing this week, to be followed by open hearings in April.
.
The United Nations can redeem its sullied reputation by helping to shape Iraq's future. To take up that challenge, it must have clean hands.
.

[BIG BLUE DEFENSIVE END]

Well, I am glad that I'm not on your bozo list SintonFan. :D