Welcome to the archived messages from In The 00s. This archive stretches back to 1998 in some instances, and contains a nearly complete record of all the messages posted to inthe00s.com. You will also find an archive of the messages from inthe70s.com, inthe80s.com, inthe90s.com and amiright.com before they were combined to form the inthe00s.com messageboard.
If you are looking for the active messages, please click here. Otherwise, use the links below or on the right hand side of the page to navigate the archives.
Subject: The UN "Oil For Food" program
I am not sure if anybody else has heard about this.
It seems that after an exhaustive investigation, the "Wall Street Journal" has uncovered a huge amount of graft and corruption in the UN's "Oil For Food" program with Iraq.
Some of the companies involved were selling things that make no sense (like "adult milk" and "generators for educational purposes"), companies that do not exist, and 762 contracts that were totally set aside once Saddam was removed from power.
It seems that a lot of them refuse to renegotiate, because of a 10% "surcharge" that was in place is being removed. It seems that this 10% charge went right into Saddam's pocket.
What disturbs me even more is that the company responsible for monitoring the program employeed Kofi Annan's son Kojo Annan with a salary of over $6 MILLION dollars in 1999 (they refused to disclose his earnings in later years).
Just as disturbing this week, is that the "Black Box" missing from the Rwandan plane that crashed in April 1994 and killing Presidents Juvenal Habyarimana of Rwanda and Cyprian Ntayamira of Burundi has magically turned up, after being lost for 10 years.
That crash touched off 10 years of violence in Rwanda, leading to genocide and ineffectual actions by the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations. During this time, French and other UN forces were ordered to stand by and do nothing as soldiers rounded up and executed tens of thousands of Hutu and Tutsi people. And the General of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations at the time was none other then... Kofi Annan.
The more I hear of things like this, the more I believe that the UN is a worthless and impotant organization. It is sad to see something that started with such high hopes, become nothing but a way for small people to get money and power.
Here are links to these 2 stories, if anybody wants to check on them for themselves.
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/rosett200403101819.asp
http://allafrica.com/stories/200403110796.html
Subject: Re: The UN "Oil For Food" program
The Rwanada stuff drives me batty. A Canadian General, Romeo Dallaire was in charge of the UN forces at the time and was told to do nothing while more than a 1/4 million {100 times as many as the World Trade Centre (not to lessen that tragedy)} died including some Belgian peacekeeping soldiers.
That General tried to commit suicide when he got back from Africa the stress and useless feeling he had after being ordered to stay out of the 'conflict'...he said if Annan had reactted and ordered in a couple of thousand troops this could have been stopped.
Subject: Re: The UN "Oil For Food" program
At the time of the Rwanda massacres, I was taking a class in International Politics, a class that was being taught by a prominent professor who has advised presidents from Reagan to Clinton.
He told us that when a situation breaks out, if you want to predict what is going to happen, ask yourself the question: "Who cares?". Once you have a good answer to "Who cares?", then it is usually fairly simple to figur eout what is gonna happen.
So the day that Rwanda started to melt down, he came into class and described the situation. Then he asked "Who cares?". The room went silent.
He said "Exactly. Nobody cares. The killings will continue until Rwanda and Burundi get tired of killing each other. There is no country in the world that has any vested interest in Rwanda. Nobody cares. Nobody is going to get involved."
He then went on to say that he was not defending the "nobody cares" principle, just stating that it existed. And he was right.
Subject: Re: The UN "Oil For Food" program
By the way. How DO you serve oil for food? With croutons, or with melted cheese on top? :P
Subject: Re: The UN "Oil For Food" program
Quoting:
By the way. How DO you serve oil for food? With croutons, or with melted cheese on top? :P
End Quote
You mix it with vinger for salad dressing. ;)
Cat
Subject: Re: The UN
Quoting:
The Rwanada stuff drives me batty. A Canadian General, Romeo Dallaire was in charge of the UN forces at the time and was told to do nothing while more than a 1/4 million {100 times as many as the World Trade Centre (not to lessen that tragedy)} died including some Belgian peacekeeping soldiers.End Quote
I saw his interview a couple of years ago. That guy was a real hero and really goes to show how inneffectual the UN really is. And it may hint at a probable reason why the 9/11 hijackers never targetted it. :P
Propaganda and information control is very much alive now-a-days. :(
Subject: Re: The UN
Quoting:
I saw his interview a couple of years ago. That guy was a real hero and really goes to show how inneffectual the UN really is. And it may hint at a probable reason why the 9/11 hijackers never targetted it. :P
Propaganda and information control is very much alive now-a-days. :(
End Quote
In my opinion, the UN has only had 3 really successful operations in "peacekeeping". Those are in Korea, Cyprus, and Quwait.
In Korea (just like Viet Nam), the UN got involved to try and prevent one country from taking over another. And in both cases, the US insisted it be a war to win, not to simply "stop the fighting". And while Korea is still in a state of war, the fighting has long ago ended.
Cyprus is a different matter. UN Peacekeepers have been in that country longer then I have been alive, landing there in 1964. That is truely an internal civil war, with Cypriots of Turkish descent fighting the Cypriots of Greek descent.
I remember when Turkey tried to invade in 1974, and the UN was effective there in throwing them back out. But that was one of the very few occasions where the UN has been effective. And the fact that 40 years later, they are STILL there shows it has not been effective enough.
Even more telling is the number of UN peacekeeping failures. Vietnam, Lebanon (2 times), Somalia, Rwanda, Angola (4 times), Serbia, Israel (countless times since it's founding), Iran-Iraq war, Cambodia (remember The Killing Fields?), Haiti (don't forget, the UN helped put Jean-Bertrand Aristide into power in the first place after he "won" a rigged election), Ethiopia, Congo, Liberia, and the list goes on and on and on.
While a lot of people show the UN as a success, I see it as nothing but a political failure. Where petty people in Third World nations pick on the richer ones. I also look at things, like the US being removed from the UN Council On Human RIghts in 2002, Syria heading the UN Security Council, Lybia heading the UN Human Rights Council, Lybia heading the UN Disarmament Council (after being turned doy by Iraq in 2003), and the list goes on and on.
The UN is now as worthless as it predecessor was, the League Of Nations. When Lybia can dictate Human RIghts, with it's record and Syria (which has attacked Israel unprovoked many times) is head of the Security Council, the UN has shown it is truely mad.
The latest about Kofi Annon's son is just proof how corrupt the UN is. They care nothing about world peace, but only in getting a piece of the world.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/02/14/sprj.irq.iraq.forum.ap/
http://quickstart.clari.net/qs_se/webnews/wed/ah/Qcyprus-un-factfile.RWMr_DNE.html