What Report Was Kofi Reading?

If anyone thinks that the latest UNSCAM report exonerates Kofi from wrongdoing, they haven't been paying attention. The report does everything except explicitly state that Kofi should be fired from his job as Secretary General for his actions, inaction, and inability to police the oil for food program.

At best, the Volcker report presents a tale of mismanagement and gullibility that should give Kofi Annan serious pause about sticking around.

And the commission hardly exonerated Annan of wrongdoing: Lacking a smoking gun to prove otherwise, it merely chose to believe his denials.

Yet Annan yesterday pronounced himself cleared, to his "great relief." Asked point-blank whether he would resign, he declared: "Hell, no."

The fact is, even this report — as protective as it is of the secretary-general — seriously undermines his credibility and effectiveness. And it still falls far short of explaining how this monumental scandal was perpetrated.

If the United Nations ever is to realize Volcker's stated "larger objective of a reformed U.N., a U.N. capable of commanding and maintaining the support of its member states and the public at large," it never will do so until the present leadership is gone.

Starting with Kofi Annan.