Last week, the Iraq Survey Group released what is being called the Duelfer Report: a 1,000-page final word on the matter of Saddam Hussein's programs for weapons of mass destruction (Duelfer is the name of the top U.S. arms inspector). The report concluded that at the time of last year's invasion, Hussein had no stockpiles of WMD.
Keep paying attention, because that's just the prologue; there's good stuff coming that some people would rather you never know.
The Duelfer Report goes on to note that Hussein was in a double bind: He desperately needed to make it seem to his neighbors (particularly Iran) that he had reconstituted the WMD programs. In reality, these programs were effectively destroyed in 1991. However, he had no money to reconstitute them until the international sanctions choking his income were lifted. Unfortunately for Hussein, this was contingent upon him turning over his WMD programs. Hussein could not conceivably make it seem like he had WMD stockpiles while simultaneously proving to weapons inspectors that no such stockpiles existed.
Enter the United Nations and the Oil-for-Food (OFF) Program.
Hussein used the plight of children dying under his regime to gain sympathy against the cruelty "caused" by the U.N.'s economic sanctions (as if the chief cause of the Iraqi children's suffering was anyone but Hussein himself). This eventually led to the Oil-for-Food program in 1996, theoretically allowing Hussein to sell oil under U.N. supervision and use the profits to end squalor in his country.
But that isn't quite what happened. The OFF revenues certainly bumped Iraq's economy out of its depression, but the benefits of that windfall allowed Hussein to acquire almost $11 billion in addition to the estimated $1.7 billion he simply skimmed from OFF proceeds.
Most damningly, the Duelfer Report mentions that OFF's voucher program "provided Saddam with a useful method of rewarding countries, organizations and individuals willing to cooperate with Iraq to subvert U.N. sanctions."
The "countries, organizations and individuals" in question include France, Russia, China and the United Nations. Stop me if you guessed any of those.
While Sen. John Kerry dubs brave national leaders who made the unpopular decision to support President Bush the "coalition of the coerced and the bribed," it turns out the only real bribes went to the nations who fought at every turn to keep Hussein in power: The very same institutions that Kerry demands we must humbly prostrate ourselves before if we ever desire to take pre-emptive action.
I'd say that this is a clear-cut instance of the 's greatest and most spectacular failure to date (a grand statement for an organization that specializes in failing), but that would do the word "failure" a disservice. Your television set "fails" when you hit the power button and it doesn't turn on; if you hit the power button and your television comes to life and tries to kill you, that's something else.
The United Nations and our erstwhile "allies" didn't just fail; they worked (with the help of France, Russia and China) to supply the Butcher of Baghdad with money, time and diplomatic support. France in particular secured lucrative oil contracts the minute the already-crumbling sanctions were lifted.
In our endless "rush to war" in 2002 and 2003, Bush called for endless meetings and resolutions -- each time hoping that this would finally be when everyone realized the threat Hussein posed to innocent people both in his own country and around the world. The whole time, there were bribed diplomats waiting at every turn to block Bush to cash-in on a Hussein operating free not just of Coalition invasion but U.N. sanctions.
We were right to believe (because of our intelligence agencies and from Hussein's own behavior) that he had weapons that posed a threat to the world. We learn now that although he didn't have those weapons, he was using U.N. funds to bribe his way into getting the freedom to make them again. Our actions against Hussein are as justified as ever.
Meanwhile, the United Nations has become no longer useless; it is now a cesspool of corruption and an abettor to evil. While Kofi Annan stonewalls outsiders on the investigations of the OFF scandal, Bush would be only too generous if he told Annan to uproot his disgusting organization out of New York City and find another host country where his goons can violate traffic laws with diplomatic immunity.
The hour grows late and we no longer have time for the tragically comical idea that the United Nations is good for either America or the world. In a few weeks, you'll be at the ballot box faced with one candidate who knows that, and one who doesn't. Choose wisely.
Eric Spratling is a public relations senior. Reach him at Eric.Spratling@asu.edu.
