By Matthew Russell Lee
WASHINGTON* DC, September 13 -- On Capitol Hill on Tuesday, the UN under Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was harshly criticized for being weak on human rights and lacking accountability.
Pushing a bill which would make US funding of the UN on on a la carte basis, Rep. Illiana Ros-Lehtinen said the UN adds "insult to injury, as the Secretary-General did two years ago when he came to Congress, as our guest, and called the U.S. the world’s 'biggest deadbeat.' I was there."
Inner City Press was there on Capitol Hill -- the question was, did Ban himself come up with the "biggest deadbeat" line, or did one of his aides, Robert Orr or Michael Myer, write it in advance?
When Ban came out of that closed door hearing, he smiled proudly, or another thought furtively, as he acknowledged to the press that he had called the US a deadbeat.
Shortly after Ros-Lehtinen quoted Ban Ki-moon's past comment, Ban in New York was answering questions pre-screened by JuJu Chang of ABC News in what was called a Social Media townhall. The first question, which Chang called "pointed," asked about modernizing the UN.
Ban blathered about the UN planting one billion trees, flashed a card listing what the UN does "every day," then mentioned without detail "accountability and transparency." How? When?
Earlier this year Inner City Press repeatedly asked how Ban's part-time envoy to Libya Al Khatib was being paid, and how it complied with the UN Charter that he also remained a sitting Senator in Jordan. The UN repeatedly dodged and stonewalled the question, and now Al Khatib's unsuccessful mediation is over.
What ever happened with the Sri Lankan peacekeepers repatriated from Haiti after being accused of sexual abuse of minors, as Uruguayans since have been? No answer. Or with the Beninois peacekeepers sent back from Cote d'Ivoire for buying under-age sex with food? No answer. Transparency? Accountability? When? Watch this site.
* - with reporting from Washington DC.
