Will Kofi Do the Perp Walk?

Not likely, says Jed Babbin:

Iqbal Riza -- who was Kofi Annan's chief of staff until recently -- ok'ed the shredding of all of his "chronological files" for 1997-1999. Riza did this on April 22, 2004: one day after the Security Council passed Resolution 1538, blessing the appointment of the Volcker investigation panel. The destruction of these files continued for almost eight months, until about December 7, 2004. It's to be expected that Riza's files were, in fact, Annan's. A U.N. Secretary General wouldn't keep his own files: his chief of staff, Riza, would do that for him. So whatever went into Riza's shredders, for eight months, must have detailed Annan's actions, conversations, meetings, and memos for the critical period when the Oil-for-Food program was turned into the Oil-for-Food-for-Bribes-for-Weapons scam that stole tens of billions of dollars of oil, bribed men and nations, and corrupted the U.N. to a degree that is utterly historic. No wonder Volcker can't find a paper trail indicating Annan did anything wrong.

In the real world, Riza's shredding would be obstruction of justice, a quick ticket to Club Fed. But this is the U.N., and the Mad Hatter's Tea Party has no rules, no accountability, and above all no desire to find the money stolen from Iraq and return it to its rightful owner.

Is Kofi going to lose his job? When asked in a Tuesday afternoon news conference if he'd resign, Annan said, "hell no." He won't go, and no one in Washington is can -- or should -- make him go. Annan has become the Indispensable Man: a perfect personification of what is wrong with the U.N. For those of us who wish to see America leave the U.N. -- in the company of the few democracies of the world -- Annan is a powerful political symbol. While he remains, more and more people will see the U.N. for what it truly is.