Questions to Consider

1. Yesterday, Kofi Annan’s former right-hand man at the United Nations, Benon Sevan, was indicted by a federal grand jury for bribery and conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with the U.N.’s Oil for Food program. Does the fact that the Oil for Food program turned into one of history’s biggest frauds, while propping up Saddam’s regime in the meantime, discredit the U.N.? Why not?
2. Does the fact that U.N. peacekeepers have repeatedly used their positions of power to extort sexual favors from female refugees discredit the U.N.? Why not?
3. Does the fact that Saddam was “taunted” during the last moments before his execution, and someone filmed the execution with a cell phone, discredit the new government of Iraq? Why?
4. Of the news stories referred to in 1 through 3, which is most important? Least important?
5. What accounts for the differences in the attitude manifested by Western reporters and editors toward the new government of Iraq, as compared with their attitudes toward the United Nations?
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