Comment: Balance required in Oil for Food assessment

April 6, Kansas City -- The recent William Safire comment on the Oil for Food Program was as one-sided as one would expect from a columnist of the right, which always has abhorred U.S. membership in the United Nations.

One might think after reading Mr. Safire's comment that not one hungry Iraqi woman or man, or boy or girl, was fed under the program, or if they were, only stale food was provided. In fact, 60% of the Iraqi population, some 15 million people, were completely dependent on food purchased and distributed under the program. Enriched foods purchased under the program and delivered to particularly vulnerable segments of the population appreciably reduced rates of child malnutrition compared with the period before Oil for Food, when harsh economic sanctions insisted upon by the U.S., combined with the indifference of the Hussein government, threatened to produce a humanitarian catastrophe.

Mr. Safire alludes to diluted medicines. But he makes no mention of the medicines provided thanks to the Oil for Food Program that helped eradicate polio from Iraq. Major surgeries in the central and southern parts of the country increased 45% in the period of Oil for Food because medicine became available. And there was a marked reduction in the incidence of communicable diseases throughout the country.

If it is true that corruption diminished the effectiveness of the program, those guilty should be prosecuted no matter their nationality or company or position or government. If any employees of the U.N. were corrupt, they must be dismissed and prosecuted.

Secretary-General Kofi Anan has received Security Council approval to set up an independent panel to investigate the allegations of corruption. Lest anyone think the U.N. isn't up to the task, it should be remembered that the recent U.N. investigation into lax security that rendered U.N. staff in Baghdad vulnerable to the devastating terrorist attack of August 2003 resulted in dismissals of senior officials as well as demotions and reassignments. And these were disciplinary actions in response to ineptitude and poor judgment, not corruption or criminal behavior. If heads need rolling, they will roll. And the United Nations humanitarian organizations will continue their good work of ministering to the needs of the world's poor and hungry.

Jay Sjerven

President

United Nations Association -- Greater Kansas City

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