Influential Congressman Henry Hyde has issued a grim statement concerning the unfolding and intensifying scandal at the United Nations. This matters, because The UN depends on the United States House of representatives to originate the spending legislation giving them billions of dollars of US taxpayers' money every year.

I am reluctant to conclude that the UN is damaged beyond repair, but these revelations certainly point in this direction. The interim findings should come as no surprise, given what is already known about other significant scandals engulfing the organization. Whatever safeguards presumably exist at the UN to prevent corruption on this scale have failed thoroughly. This failure is a matter of urgent concern for this Committee as it considers various reform proposals.

Aware that this report is only interim, I look forward to additional findings on systematic weaknesses that would lead to this level of corruption, and further details regarding the role of current and former high—ranking UN officials, including former Secretary—General Boutros Boutros Ghali.

Hat tip: Ed Lasky

Thomas Lifson   2 4 05