American taxpayers pay more than a fifth of the United Nations budget -- more than anyone else -- and this week there was more reason to think about whether the money is well spent. Senator Norm Coleman, who leads a bipartisan subcommittee investigating the UN Oil for Food program, called for the resignation of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The U.N. issued a report this week, commissioned and supported by the Secretary-General, which criticized many UN institutions and policies but made few specific recommendations for change.
"There have been calls for Kofi Annan's resignation. President Bush pointedly did not give him an endorsement this week. How much trouble is he in?"
"He's in a lot of trouble. He has presided over a $17 billion scam by Saddam Hussein with the Oil for Food. We now have discovered that his own son was on the payroll of a contractor under the program. On the other hand, he's very likely to hang on. He's got diplomatic immunity, and so far there has been no allegation that he himself committed criminal acts."
"What are the American people, who are paying 20 percent of the bill, supposed to think about the rest of the United Nations? Are you just supposed to shrug and accept the fact that the organization is this incompetent when they are paying them all this money?"
