Hmm considering that it was one of their biggest programs ever... $10 billion out of $65 billion.

"Lax accounting. Proper oversight could have caught abuses in the oil-for-food program. The Iraqi Governing Council's investigation shows the way to prevent future problems: Hire credible auditors to monitor the U.N. as they would private businesses.

Bloated bureaucracy. The oil-for-food program - involving nine separate agencies, projects and funds - was a classic example of the bureaucratic jumble that has been a U.N. hallmark. Two rounds of U.S.-pushed reforms in 1997 and 2002 to streamline the U.N. have made limited progress.


Poor policing. Saddam was allowed to choose the companies and countries the oil-for-food program did business with - a clear invitation to pick those open to bribery. Yet a U.N. spokesman said the organization had no responsibility to investigate allegations of corruption. In fact, though charges swirled for more than a year, the U.N. started a credible investigation only after the Iraqi Governing Council recently began its probe."

Why should anyone trust them with a cent until this is explained? Why isn't this generating the kind of outrage that Enron did?

posted by Rachel 4/06/2004

. . .