Senator Calls on Annan to Step Down

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON -- The senator leading an investigation into the United Nations' oil-for-food program in Iraq is calling on Secretary-General Kofi Annan to resign.

Writing in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal, Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., argues that Annan should step down because "the most extensive fraud in the history of the U.N. occurred on his watch. In addition, and perhaps more importantly, as long as Mr. Annan remains in charge, the world will never be able to learn the full extent of the bribes, kickbacks and under-the-table payments that took place under the U.N.'s collective nose."
.........
In a telephone interview Tuesday night, Coleman said: "Any private company would have asked for his (Annan's) resignation. But the members of the board, in this case Security Council members China, Russia and France, have all benefited from Saddam being in power."
............
Coleman stopped short of saying he would move to cut U.S. funding for the U.N. if Annan stays on.

"I'm not prepared to say we need to step back from our (financial) commitments to the U.N," he said. "But ultimately, if our efforts are thwarted, I think that issue does come into play. The consequence of the path we're on right now is not a good path for the United Nations."

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-coleman-annan,0,7462413.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[bluestateguy]

1. He should shut his mouth

Kofi Annan does not answer to some pissant freshman Senator from Minnesota who was elected under dubious circumstances.

[asjr]

6. Yes, Mr. Coleman, get your ass off your shoulder and bitch about

the illegalities this administration has done.

[afridemo]

60. Check this out from Annan's country's Forum

this guy has something to say.


http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/sil2/r.php?id=1276629&thread=1276584

[BlueEyedSon]

8. Hear, hear! nt

[belle]

2. My, my, we *are* stepping high, aren't we??

[juliagoolia]

3. Norm Coleman?

Who the hell is he to tell the leader of the friggin UN to step down.

Newsday must be desperate for a story!

[CBHagman]

4. But Coleman stands by a liar and a fraud (Bush)

Typical Coleman sleaze.

[fujiyama]

29. Coleman himself

is a liar and a fraud.

That man makes me sick...He's a real smarmy bastard.

[Sparkle]

5. Mr. Anan to the Senator: "Fuck You, Mr. Coleman!"

[latteromden]

11. I would *love* to hear it (n/t)

[koopie57]

7. oh ... it was only

norm coleman. :scared: I'm sure Annan is worried now.

[prodigal_green]

9. As if

ummm, since repukes think the UN is irrelevant anyway, why the hell should he care who is in charge?

[latteromden]

10. HAH

Norm, Norm, Norm. You haven't done a THING for two years, and now that your election is coming up in four and nobody is particularly happy with you, you start doing shit - and calling for the Sec. Gen. of the UN to step down? It's not gonna get you brownie points here.

[ContraBass Black]

12. I'm past fed on BUll SHit

No more. I've had it. The machinations, hypocrisy, and petty pursuits ahead of law order, and the good of humankind must be stopped. It is far beyond time for these spewing child-men to shut the hell up.

I may have to disappear for a while.

:mad:

[Helga Scow Stern]

13. This propaganda was just on CBS Nightly News.

They gave this guy too much time, and had the reporter comparing it to Enron.
The Rethugs are probably afraid that Annan wouldn't be afraid to get behind the people of the US to contest a fraudulent election.

[Rose Siding]

14. The more apt comparison is Abu Ghraib

Coleman says outright that he doesn't accuse Annan of anything but being in charge.

Rumsfeld and Bush have as much or more culpability in the Abu Ghraib torture cases. Coleman kept his yap shut over that one.

[bunny planet]

45. Coleman is just the mouthpiece. This is *'s retribution for Annan

going public and saying the war in Iraq was illegal. * just doesn't get mad, he gets even. What a vile man our Fearless leader is!

[Dr Fate]

15. Republicans are not scared of throwing down the gauntlet.

Any time, anywhere- and no apologies.

I'd love to see DEMS match this kind of agressive politics.

[TheDebbieDee]

47. I agree with you...

Yesterday, a poster on this site mentioned that he had seen someone with a big lapel button that read, "Stop being polite. Start calling them "Fascists!", or something to that effect.

The Democratic party has got to stop playing nice, stop being afraid of offending people. The Republicans give less than a damn who they offend with their rantings yet they always manage to get their messages of hate out to the public.

[Badboy]

69. Be Carefull

The GOP has learned to fight. The GOP with all of the power we must keep up our guard. We must fight everything they propose. Fight. Fight. Fight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[riverwalker]

16. neocon wannabe in training

Normies numbers (his Tel Aviv office is being remodeled)

Washington Office:
320 Senate Hart Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Main: 202-224-5641
Fax: [phone]
Toll Free: 800-642-6041
Scheduling: 202-228-1503

Minnesota Office in St. Paul:
2550 University Ave W, Suite 100N
St. Paul, MN 55114
Main: 651-645-0323
Fax: [phone]

Minnesota Office in Mankato:
12 Civic Center Plaza
Suite 2167
Mankato, Minnesota 56001
Main: 507-625-6800
Fax: [phone]

[Thor_MN]

17. On behalf of all Minnesotans, I'm sorry...

I apologize for this idiot shooting his mouth off, he's trying to jump onto the PNAC bandwagon. He's a slimeball wrapped in Rethug giftwrap - I'd like to think that somewhere in there there's some good left - he did some OK work while mayor of St. Paul. He was a Dem back then. If you can, ignore him and we will make him go away as soon as possible.

[Laelth]

19. "He's a slimeball wrapped in Rethug giftwrap"?

Can you take him back and get a refund? Hell, I'd even take store credit. ;)

Of course, coming from GA, I've got no room to talk.

-Laelth

[Raster]

24. norm, norm, norm. you ain't fooling anyone. you're nothing but a ....

wholesale whore and shill for $hrubco. When I look up "sellout" in the dictionary norm, I see your picture. You are not now, and nor will you ever be even half the man Paul Wellstone was. Hopefully the good citizens of Minnesota will wake up and send you and your 30 pieces of silver packing.

[EC]

18. Fools sure don't care about looking foolish

I wonder if they called any of the American (Texas) oil companies involved in the Oil-for-Food bribes, Oh, Mr. Chaney!!!:evilgrin:

[briemann]

20. This is racism,

plain and simple. No senator ever demanded that a white Secretary General step down.

[Ian David]

21. Halliburton profited by violating the oil for food program

[Erika]

30. As If Bush/Cheney Care About Halliburton Abuse

of monies? Not in our lifetime. Hallibuton ain't heavy, he's my donor is this administration thoughts.

[Brundle_Fly]

36. and exxon

and enron, and texico...el paso energy....

its a very big list.

[Deja Q]

22. Coleman? The lizard who thanked God for winning in 2002?

(page A17, Star Tribune - he said that. Remember, Wellstone was killed. Did God want Wellstone to die?)

Let Coleman rant and threaten. That bushbot will only cause the UN to retaliate.

[goobergunch]

23. Can we have Wellstone back?

Please?

:mad:

[JohnKleeb]

38. we can't bring back the dead

sigh, god I hate fucking Coleman. Two of my best friends here on the boards have him, god I pity em and I have two republican senators and a republican congressman.

[dflprincess]

25. No doubt he's following orders

Normie doesn't do anything without Bushco telling him to. And, as he failed to "deliver" Minnesota he's busy scrambling to prove he's still loyal.

God, I hate that weasel.

[Liberal_Dog]

26. Coleman Doesn't Stand For Anything

First, he was a Dem, now he's a Repuke.

Who gives a flying rat's piece of sh*t what he says?

[MisterP]

27. more oral diarrhea? the more he opens his mouth, the more repellent he is

[Gyre]

28. This is just another example of repug implosion

Kofi Annan was the US hand's on choice as Sec. General. He's served the US well by neutering the UN on his watch. He's even reared up on his hind legs a few times during his tenure and diplomatically "yelled" at the US just to keep from being assasinated. I think it's funny that the very administration he's served so well is on his ass! He can fuck-off and die.

Gyre

[pinniped]

31. I'm sure this guy agrees that * should resign because the 9/11...

attacks happened on his watch.

What a complete failure.

[Straight Shooter]

32. Coleman, try to be a Senator and not an outhouse attendant

'mkay?

[wellst0nev0ter]

33. You Mean The Oil-For-Foods Program Set Up By The U.S.

of which the U.S. exempted Jordan and Turkey from Iraqi trade restrictions, facilitating the smuggling, and of which American oil companies were known to benefit. That Oil-For-Foods program Norm?

He's right, he's definitley AT LEAST 99% more of an asshole than his predessessor.

[Swamp Rat]

34. Sen. Norm Coleman should resign because the most extensive fraud

in the history of the U.S. occurred on his watch. In addition, and perhaps more importantly, as long as Sen. Norm Coleman remains in office, the world will never be able to learn the full extent of the bribes, kickbacks and under-the-table payments that took place under America's collective nose.

[GoSolar]

51. Right on! Norm should resign.

Norm, get out (and shut up).

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

35. All Annan

needs to do is start naming the US companies heavily involved in the Food for Oil mess.

Yup, that'll do the trick. It shut people up about it a few months ago when it was brought up then, too.

I guess they're trying again. Cute little repukes!

[imenja]

37. Does anyone really care what Norm Coleman thinks?

Does he have any clout at all? No doubt the Republican party is behind it, but will it be taken seriously when they send a D list senator out to champion their cause?

[DavidFL]

39. This is one of my peeves...

In a telephone interview Tuesday night, Coleman said: "Any private company would have asked for his (Annan's) resignation. But the members of the board, in this case Security Council members China, Russia and France, have all benefited from Saddam being in power."

What is it with these people having to reframe everything in corporate terms?! Everytime I hear a comparison between, say, a governmental body and a corporation, I wanna yell at these people that they're called governmental bodies for a reason. They're not like a private institution where a CEO can run it like their own little fiefdom. And it's not an episode of "The Apprentice" either. I'm sure the UN's members are capable of deciding who can best lead them themselves without someone telling them what a U.S. corporation would have done.

That and almost every MSM news story about human misery always includes the obligatory "X costs businesses Y hundreds/millions/billions dollars each year." It's like, hey, how about worrying about what it's costing the people suffering in mental/physical/emotional/financial terms and getting these people better again before we start worrying what it's going to cost business? One of our local stations here kept doing this after each hurricane we had this year and it drove me crazy.

[imenja]

41. What about Bush?

It's ironic, since the entire Bush administration is full of the most incompetent officials we've seen in a long time, if ever.

[Seabiscuit]

40. FU2 very much, Mr. Coleman, you irrelevant ass.

[maddezmom]

42. guess he could give a crap about the billions the US squandered

What happened to Iraq’s oil money?
Former U.S. official
says billions of dollars
were ‘squandered’
By Lisa Myers & the NBC investigative unit
NBC News
Updated: 7:21 p.m. ET Nov. 30, 2004After the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the United States took control of all of the Iraqi government’s bank accounts, including the income from oil sales. The United Nations approved the financial takeover, and President Bush vowed to spend Iraq’s money wisely. But now critics are raising serious questions about how well the United States handled billions of dollars in Iraqi oil funds.

Iraq's oil resources generate billions of dollars — money the United States promised to protect after overthrowing Saddam Hussein.

Now, Frank Willis, a former senior American official in Iraq, tells NBC News the United States failed to safeguard the oil money known as the Development Fund for Iraq.

"There was, in my mind, pervasive leakage in assets of Iraq, and to some extent, those assets were squandered," says Willis.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6621523

[Moloch]

43. What incredible gall Coleman has...

NT

[MidwestTransplant]

44. Hmmm they want Accountability, they should start at home.

[bvar22]

46. American Corporations involved :

"The U.S. companies -- including Exxon Mobil Corp., ChevronTexaco Corp. and El Paso Corp. or their predecessors -- and individuals were identified in the Central Intelligence Agency's 1,000-page report on the Hussein regime's campaign, though their names were redacted from the publicly released version. While confirming that sanctions had prevented Iraq from obtaining weapons of mass destruction, the report by arms inspector Charles Duelfer, released last week, described efforts by the Hussein regime to manipulate the Oil-for-Food program in its favor, circumventing U.N. mandates, and possibly U.S. law." (my bold)

http://www.corpwatch.org/print_article.php?&id=11569

I wonder why the names of the US Corporations were "redacted" from the report given to the USMedia????

This is just dishonest PR bluster from the Republicans. They don't want this to go anywhere besides the US CorpoMedia to help slander the UN and divert attention from more important issues in Iraq. The total for the Oil for Food Scandal is about $20Billion. That's chump change for the corporate looting and pillaging in Iraq.
$20Billion disappeared the night Viceroy Bremmer left Iraq.

It is interesting that The El Paso Corp. was involved in this mess. You may remember this Corporation as being one of the Enron front companies that helped rig the California Energy Shortage of 2001.

"El Paso Corporation, the Texas energy company, withheld supplies of natural gas into California during the 2001-2002 power crisis, driving prices to record levels, a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission judge said."

http://www.srimedia.com/artman/publish/article_160.shtm...

I agree with little Rubberstamp Normie. This is like an onion. The more layers you peel, the more Republican CorpoCorruption you find!

[maddezmom]

50. kick

[maddezmom]

53. heads up...Coleman to be on Lou Dobbs in the next 1/2 hour

[Just Me]

62. Yet NO brave soul reveals the "Republican CorpoCorruption".

I wonder how come? :freak:

[KamaAina]

48. Maybe Annan should be worried

The last guy to draw Coleman's ire was...

...Paul Wellstone. :(

No more small planes to the refugee camps, Kofi. :scared:

[ElectroPrincess]

49. I can't believe we let this buffoon do this!?!

Norm Coleman is a self-important flip flopping embarrassment of a politician.

[xerox]

52. All we are saying

is Give Bill C a chance... Get rid of that guy and put President Clinton in. He can and will do a better job as UN leader.

[ContraBass Black]

56. Clinton is well respected, but I think it's a different kind of respect.

Annan has more of a quiet, self-challenging dignity.

[Endangered Specie]

54. DUer Calls on Senator to Shut the Fuck Up.

[bvar22]

55. Het Normie boy, Have one on Endangered Specie!

[NNguyenMD]

57. Its really hard to believe that...

the great people of MINNESOTA preferred this smouldering piece of shit to occupy Paul Wellstone's senate seat over former Vice President Walter Mondale.

[Barkley]

58. They should move the U.N. to Good "Old Europe".

The U.N. is not a private company. So Sen. Coleman's comments:

"Any private company would have asked for his (Annan's) resignation. But the members of the board, in this case Security Council members China, Russia and France, have all benefited from Saddam being in power."

Are stupid!

[winston61]

59. What a load of crap.

Does anyone really think that Cheney just sat in his office at Halliburton and let all that money go into someone else's pockets? Despite what fox news and this idiot Coleman say, there is no scandal. How can a scandal exist when EVERYONE in the oil business knew what was going on and was taking part? Despite the noble smoke blown up the publics ass about 'food for oil' the whole operation was just a boondoggle for everybody involved, including the United States AND Saddam. Besides preventing chaos in Iraq, leaving Saddam in place in '91 would ensure that the program could go forward. They could not risk sabotage of the oil infrastructure. Is the U.N. dirty in this? Probably, but then so is everyone else who touched this tar baby. Screw Norm Coleman, he's a moron. What I am waiting for is the Paul Volcker investigation report. Why do you think Volcker won't hand anything over to congress? Cause they will just make a pig's breakfast out of it.
Oh yeah, check out the Freepers. Guess who they are blaming? That's right Bill and Hillary!

[evworldeditor]

61. Oil for Food Becomes Isolationist Fodder

If the world's most respected institution of international governance is rendered impotent by accusations as distorted and exaggerated as the "Oil for Food Scandal," we should all fear the consequences.

See rest of article at...

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/20642/

[PassingFair]

65. BIG freeper talking point at work today..

Limbaugh must have been mouthing it today. Freeps were cawing about it at a meeting today. I need to read up on this soz I can slap them back to reality.

[MrUnderhill]

63. Oh great.... ABC now reporting that Marc Rich was involved....

only a couple months after receiving his pardon.

Didn't you just KNOW this whole thing was going to be "Clinton's fault"?

[Liberaltarian]

64. "Cut U.S. funding for the UN..."????

I thought we were already billions behind on our tab...does this mean that we're just going to walk away from that?

next thing he'll want to do is tell them that their building in NYC is going condo...

[flying_blind]

66. Senator should call on Cheney to step down

http://www.antiwar.com/orig/leopold.php?articleid=3767#

...the one company that helped Saddam exploit the oil-for-food program in the mid-1990s that wasn't identified in Duelfer's report was Halliburton, and the person at the helm of Halliburton at the time of the scheme was Dick Cheney. Halliburton and its subsidiaries were one of several American and foreign oil supply companies that helped Iraq increase its crude exports from $4 billion in 1997 to nearly $18 billion in 2000 by skirting U.S. laws and selling Iraq spare parts so it could repair its oil fields and pump more oil. Since the oil-for-food program began, Iraq has sold $40 billion worth of oil. U.S. and European officials have long argued that the increase in Iraq's oil production also expanded Saddam's ability to use some of that money for weapons, luxury goods and palaces. Security Council diplomats estimate that Iraq was skimming off as much as 10 percent of the proceeds from the oil-for-food program thanks to companies like Halliburton and former executives such as Cheney.

UN documents show that Halliburton's affiliates have had controversial dealings with the Iraqi regime during Cheney's tenure at the company and played a part in helping Saddam Hussein illegally pocket billions of dollars under the UN's oil-for-food program. The Clinton administration blocked one deal Halliburton was trying to push through because it was "not authorized under the oil-for-food deal," according to UN documents. That deal, between Halliburton subsidiary Ingersoll Dresser Pump Co. and Iraq, included agreements by the firm to sell nearly $1 million in spare parts, compressors and firefighting equipment to refurbish an offshore oil terminal, Khor al-Amaya. Still, Halliburton used one of its foreign subsidiaries to sell Iraq the equipment it needed so the country could pump more oil, according to a report in the Washington Post in June 2001.

The Halliburton subsidiaries, Dresser-Rand and Ingersoll Dresser Pump Co., sold water and sewage treatment pumps, spare parts for oil facilities and pipeline equipment to Baghdad through French affiliates from the first half of 1997 to the summer of 2000, UN records show. Ingersoll Dresser Pump also signed contracts – later blocked by the United States, according to the Post – to help repair an Iraqi oil terminal that U.S.-led military forces destroyed in the Gulf War years earlier.

Cheney's hardline stance against Iraq on the campaign trail is hypocritical considering that during his tenure as chief executive of Halliburton, Cheney pushed the UN Security Council to end an 11-year embargo on sales of civilian goods, including oil-related equipment, to Iraq. Cheney has said sanctions against countries like Iraq unfairly punish U.S. companies.

[spanone]

67. Hey Norm, shut the fuck up.

[Chicago Democrat]

68. Hey Norm, Al Franken is going to kick your ass...

in 2008! woohoo