UNITED NATIONS (CNN) — The United Nations has defended a letter sent by the head of its Iraq oil-for-food program telling a contractor not to release any documents related to the program without first consulting it. The letter, sent April 14 by an aide on behalf of U.N. oil-for-food head Benon Sevan to the manager of the Dutch company Saybolt, asks the company “to maintain the confidentiality of documentation and information relating to its services in connection with the program.” Saybolt was the independent inspection agency hired by the United Nations to monitor the loading of Iraq’s crude oil at the two locations sanctioned by the program.
Note the date - Sevan was alledgedly “on vacation” at that point. UNSCAM also points out that the requesting party is almost certainly the Iraqi Governing Council. It would normally seem to be stupid to piss them off and agitate for control of the country at the same time, but the UN has never been concerned with the opinion of the hoi polloi.
Sudan won an uncontested election on Tuesday to the United Nations’ main human rights watchdog, prompting the United States to walk out because of alleged ethnic cleansing in the country’s Darfur region.
Sudan’s delegate immediately shot back that the U.S. delegation was “shedding crocodile tears” and turning a blind eye to atrocities committed by U.S. soldiers in Iraq against civilians as well as against prisoners.
Apparently our delegation wasn’t informed of the rule that human rights can only be infringed by countries that are allies of the USA.
“We have 19 of 23 officers who served with [Kerry]. We have every commanding officer he ever had in Vietnam. They all signed a letter that says he is unfit to be commander-in-chief,” O’Neill said. [emphasis added]
I can’t wait for the backspin on this -
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If you’ve wondered lately what’s wrong with Israel, just look at the recent winner of the prestigious 2004 Israel Prize for sculpture. It was the proverbial “bad boy” of the Israeli art world, Yigal Tumarkin. […] Some of his most famous or should I say infamous pieces, include a pig wearing “Tefilin” (phylacteries worn by Jewish men during prayer) […]
As for the “praying pig,” back in January 1998, Israeli artist Tatiana Susskin received a two-year prison sentence for drawing a picture depicting the founder of Islam, Muhammad, as a pig. The court considered it an act of racial incitement against Islam and the Arabs. But in Israel, putting a pig — the most disgusting animal by Jewish standards — in “Tefilin” — Jewish ritual objects — isn’t incitement, it isn’t criminal, it’s “art,” and worthy of a prize.
The lesson here seems to be, as with Amiri Baraka, that the real problem is government awards for “art”.