Trifecta

The two headlines of the day seem unrelated, but don't be fooled. It's only been a day since the President's State of the Union address, and already Bush is vindicated. A third event, only hours ago, is the cherry atop the sundae.

1. Syria and Iraq can't handle the truth:

   Syria and Iran on Thursday dismissed as baseless President Bush's attacks on their policies in the Middle East.
   
   In his State of the Union address on Wednesday, Bush accused Syria of letting "terrorists" use Syrian and Lebanese territory to "destroy every chance of peace" in the Middle East.
   
   Syrian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Bushra Kanafani said Damascus was doing all it could to stop fighters crossing into Iraq and had offered Baghdad a security agreement.
   
   Washington imposed economic sanctions on Syria in May, citing the Iraq border issue and Syrian support for anti-Israeli Palestinian and Lebanese factions.

   This is, of course, excellent news. Terrorists, and states that harbor and support terrorism, don't fold their tents on our command. But self-protection is no less strong in the Arab world. If Assad and Mubarak woke up more worried today, they're more likely to launch long-overdue democratic and economic reform--which would benefit the citizens of both countries. I'd rather America were loved and feared, but given the choice, I'd rather we were feared.



2. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, who chairs the UN's internal investigation of its Oil-for-Palaces scandal, released an Interim Report today, concluding UN corruption trickles down from the top. The report confirms that the head of the UN program, Benon Sevan, received allocations for millions of barrels of Iraqi oil, which he resold for at least $160,000. Volcker also implicated another U.N. official, Joseph Stephanides, chief of the U.N. Sanctions Branch. And it's not just oil, explains Austin Bay:

   [S]oon after taking over as the head of the Iraq Program, Benon Sevan began to strongly support Iraq’s requests for spare parts. More interestingly, the report reveals that two days after the UN Security Council passed a resolution (at Sevan’s urging) allowing Iraq to import spare parts, Sevan flew to Iraq and made the first of several requests for an oil allocation to be directed to a company of his choosing, AMEP.
   
   While Saddam probably would have been able to smuggle some oil out of Iraq with his damaged infrastructure, there can be no question that the huge sums he ultimately pocketed from oil smuggling came as a direct result of Sevan’s campaign to secure permission from the Security Council for Saddam to buy the oil equipment and spare parts that he so desperately needed.
   
   Bottom line: Sevan, director of the Oil for Food program, is directly responsible for the at least some significant portion of the smuggling that ultimately enriched Saddam.

   Secretary General Koffi Annan announced he would impose undisclosed "disciplinary measures" on the two. Sevan claims he's been railroaded for political reasons, forgetting that some scapegoats are, actually, goats. In any event, Sevan retired from the UN and returned to his native Cyprus. I expect Sevan will avoid UN buildings and courts with even arguable jurisdiction--but (schandenfreude moment) perhaps the International Criminal Court will indict him in abstentia.
   
   Shameful joy aside, it's half a loaf. The interim findings focus mostly on Sevan. Volcker still is investigating other UN bureaucrats as well as a French bank still hoarding millions of dollars earmarked for bribes when Saddam fell. And it doesn't discuss Koffi Annan's son, who also allegedly got free voucher bribes--a trail that could end with Koffi himself. I await Volcker version 2.



3. I have terrible secret--I'm addicted to non-sex chat rooms. Silly, but I frequent Yahoo's politics chatrooms, liberal and conservative, seeking inspiration for this blog. The principal user-created conservative room was called "Bush--Brave, Steady & True" (or something like that) until last weekend, when it was renamed "Iraqi Independence Day."
   
   At 6:30 this evening a few of us were explaining the justification for, and success of, the war in Iraq. Three leftists -- one from Canada -- insisted "nation building" was hopeless, costly and immoral. They claimed democracy couldn't be "imposed," especially by force of arms. Ordinary Iraqis, they said, loathed America, and were justified in resisting an unlawful occupation. Of course, none of the lefties ever heard of Iraqi or mil-blogs.
   
   The debate was turning nasty when a new voice took the mic, a woman, with an unfamiliar chatroom ID. In accented and halting speech, she said she was [names and IDs withheld] a 21-year-old college student in Baghdad, a Christian of Armenian descent. She entered Yahoo to thank America for her first opportunity to vote. She stumbled onto our room expecting to find Iraqi-Americans. Instead, she meet 37 Republican-Americans and three belligerent liberals unacquainted with facts.
   
   So we asked her whether Iraqis are disinterested in democracy or resent America. "No, no," she insisted, calling Election Day "joyous." She explained how thankful she was someone toppled Saddam; ordinary Iraqis, she continued, know "there wouldn't be a vote without American troops protecting" them last Sunday. The three liberals promptly attacked her, claiming she was unrepresentative, that she "sounded Jewish, just like the neo-cons in here" [ed.--me? Probably.] and ultimately accused her of being a Mossad agent. She denied it all, and repeated how much she appreciates what America has done--in contrast to what Europe hasn't.
   
   Was she real? It's almost too perfect. But I IMed with her for ten minutes after she left the chat room. Her descriptions seem internally consistent. And I deliberately tested her by describing (without naming) the tricky math/engineering function that converts between the time and frequency domains. My failure to master this technique in college convinced me to change majors. But she promptly said, "oh you mean 'Fourier transforms?'" So, she wasn't lying about the math. And -- after I described myself a Washington, DC, Republican -- she replied, "oh good . . . so you can tell Bush."
   
   I quit the chat room soon after she did. But, before leaving, I went on-mic and said "I think we just pulled Marshall McLuhan from behind a movie poster."

UN bad, America good--and appreciated outside the Blue state-Euro alliance. Blogs, debates and life should always be this simple.