A neighbor of mine worked at the UN as a translator for more than twenty years. She speaks numerous languages and is originally from French colonial Africa. Algeria. Now in her mid-70s, she recently retired. She still has contact, I gather, with former coworkers at the UN.

We were having coffee not too long ago when John Bolton came up. She was quite derisive. Then I changed the subject to the Oil-for-Food scandal. She got a little touchy, I guess you might say.

Regarding Sevan and the mushrooming Oil-for-Food debacle she said, “these people at the UN, they are civil servants. They are not millionaires like Bush and Cheney. If they take a little piece for themselves, why is this wrong?”

Well, I was fairly appalled by this remark but apparently it reflects the prevalent mindset. She seemed not at all concerned by the lawlessness that pervades the whole affair. Or of the fact that the program, once corrupted, enabled a horrendous tyrant to skirt a system that was put in place to force him to tend to the needs of his people. And needless to say, neither she nor I have anything like $160,000 lying around, making her comment about it being “a little piece” all the more absurd.

I suppose what’s at work here is a sense on the part of those at the UN that they are doing the world some great service, making some great sacrifice in the name of all humanity. Hence, they feel they are above the law. What a sham.

“Pol Pot was a lunatic – he killed 2 and a half million people.”

“Oh, come on – we know that Pol Pot ONLY killed one million people.” (emphasis mine)

If something like THAT is excusable, then I am not surprised by this turn of events at all.