The Oil for Food scandal has taken a personal turn. It now has a face. One of the men who got payment from it was involved in the assassination of the father of the Iraqi lady, Safia Taleb al-Souhail, who was at the State of the Union address the other night.
Kofi Annan's saying he's going to "discipline" Benon Sevan, the man in charge of the program, sounds to me like he's going to give him a time-out. There should be a Senate inquiry into this mess, prison terms for the corrupt UN officials involved, and compensation to Iraq from the UN for the money stolen:
[Iraq's Human Rights Minister] Amin said beyond bringing those responsible to justice, it was essential that Iraqis who suffered under Saddam's regime and never benefited from oil-for-food as was intended, should be recompensed.
"The money that has been stolen from the oil-for-food program is Iraqi money and has to be paid back to the Iraqi people," he said. "There are too many victims of Saddam who suffered and they need to be paid compensation.
"These people shouldn't get away with the money and live the rest of their lives in luxury. A lesson needs to be made of them. They benefited by stealing the bread of others."
Amin said the Lebanese who helped organize his father-in-law's killing was granted rights to seven million barrels of oil through the oil-for-food program as payment for his services.
Amin's father-in-law, a renowned tribal sheikh who was opposed to Saddam, had gone into exile in Lebanon and was assassinated in Beirut.
If I were in that lady's shoes, I might do a Rumplestiltskin and tear myself in two from anger. I can't imagine having to go through life with such an injustice.
