The U.N.'s Dirty Laundry
Should Kofi Annan shoulder all the blame, or do the problems go deeper?
By Kit R. Roane and Dan Morrison
Posted 4/10/05
Page 3 of 3
Despite howls from many internationalists (and foreign governments) over Bush's choice for ambassador, Bolton could turn out to be a gift to the organization that he has so famously derided. If the Bush administration embraces Annan's reform plans, Soderberg says, "Bolton will be well placed to sell those reforms to conservatives in Congress" who have been calling for Annan's scalp.
"I think there is a strong temptation to lay all these problems at the feet of the secretary general," says former Attorney General Richard Thornburg, who conducted an extensive study of the U.N. bureaucracy in 1993. "But in fairness, he is really a captive of the culture and hamstrung by the pressure exerted by a 191-member-nation organization."
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