Ever and Annan?

For U.S. lawmakers, the secretary-general cannot outlast the UN's multibillion-dollar oil scandal | Mindy Belz

When U.S. energy giant Enron first reported a $24 billion discrepancy in assets, it led to the largest U.S. bankruptcy scandal in history, to multibillions of dollars in losses for stockholders, to at least one suicide, and to criminal charges against 33 principals with over 20 now serving criminal sentences or awaiting punishment.

With UN Oil for Food discrepancies now standing just over the $21 billion mark, and with the illegal proceeds now linked to financing terrorism and weapons production, prompting at least one assassination, the key figures in what could become the world's largest financial fraud scheme have thus far—with the possible exception of Saddam Hussein—kept up an exacting charade of business as usual.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan last week presided over a conference denouncing Islamophobia and received a standing ovation before UN delegates. Such choreographed appearances are designed to counter growing calls for his resignation.