The NY Times opens its eyes

The corruption of the UN-run Iraqi Oil-for-food program has been heavily discussed in the blogworld for some time now, and the NY times has finally taken notice. For some reason, journalists that would be turned into a pack of wild dogs by any whiff of scandal concerning Halliburton have been completely passive about a multi-billion dollar scam carried out by a humanitarian organization. Robert L. Simon is outraged by the depth of the corruption and wants full disclosure:

The UN supervisors of this mega-crime claim not to have known what was going on. Whether they are lying or were unconscionably stupid or stupefyingly lazy (or a combination of the three) we do not know yet, but one thing is clear. For the preservation of the United Nations, the books of all transactions under all United Nations programs henceforward must be open—that is, immediately and entirely open and available to all on the Internet. That cartels of Russian Mafiosi, Syrian fascist thugs, Iraqi ruling gangsters, Swiss bankers and who knows who else were able to profiteer to the tune of billions off money that was supposedly meant for medicine for Iraqi children is beyond disgusting. Anyone who thinks that the overthrow of Saddam was not a good thing for this reason alone ought to examine his or her morals.

UPDATE: Laurent at Polyscopique notes this as well and provides a concise summary.