Mon, Aug. 22, 2005
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Coleman's U.N. crusade picking up steam


Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Sen. Norm Coleman's call for major changes at the United Nations has picked up steam with recent news that a federal prosecutor has issued criminal charges in the investigation of the U.N.'s oil-for-food program.
Coleman, a Minnesota Republican, told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is too damaged to survive the scandal, and reiterated his call for Annan to resign.
This is the most massive fraud in the history of the United Nations, said Coleman, whose permanent subcommittee on investigations has been probing the oil-for-food program.
Coleman plans to attend a summit in New York next month with more than 170 world leaders. Prior to the summit, he will meet with the new U.S. ambassador to the United States, John Bolton.
Meanwhile, Coleman will push for his legislation that would allow the United States to withhold dues from the United Nations.
Julian Zelizer, a congressional historian and professor at Boston University, said that Annan is holding on, but not by much, and that Coleman will benefit from his crusade.
It will continue to give him notoriety, especially with conservatives, Zelizer said. The U.N. is a big issue for Republican conservatives. It's almost as symbolic as abortion. ... It's a symbol of the international pressures that the U.S. doesn't want to be bound by anymore.
At the same time, Coleman's position is unlikely to hurt him with moderates, Zelizer said.
There's not much for him to lose by taking this stand, and there's a lot for him to gain.
But Coleman's bill has rankled some Democrats.
Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., the ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said other nations view the legislation as arrogant. Former Sen. George Mitchell, a Maine Democrat who co-chaired a congressional task force on U.N. reform, called the bill a very dangerous potential, because other countries could withhold their dues if the U.N. fails to meet their reform demands.
The bill, which would allow the president to withhold as much as 50 percent of U.S. dues, also requires the United Nations to appoint a single senior official to serve as its de facto chief operating officer to oversee its daily operations.
Coleman has been lauded by conservatives for his work on the United Nations. In February, the Conservative Political Action Conference gave him the Defender of the Constitution Award.
But he's also got some negative attention in Europe, especially after he accused British Parliament member George Galloway of being involved in the oil-for-food scandal.
Agence France-Presse reported in May that Coleman had taken the lead in U.N.-bashing and had become the bete noire of the world body. The article quoted French writer Bernard Henry-Levy, who said Coleman was a sort of blond yuppie with exceedingly white teeth and the smile of a wolf.
I don't lose sleep over what French writers think, Coleman said with a laugh.
If I highlight corruption in the U.N., are there folks on the conservative side who cheer that? Absolutely, Coleman said. But he said the scandal resonates way beyond that ... This is not solely in the domain of conservative politics.