This didn't seem to attract much attention today, but it (the NY Times, with its absurd motto "All the news that's fit to print," doesn't have it on its front page, but at least they have that reporter chasing 5-year old Josie and 4-year old Jack Roberts) should.

Investigators have concluded that the former chief of the Iraq Oil-for-Food program, Benon Sevan, took kickbacks under the $64 billion humanitarian operation and refused to cooperate with their probe, his lawyer said Thursday.

One of the arguments against the invasion of Iraq and toppling of Saddam Hussein was that he was effectively contained, or "in a box" as some pundits declared, and not a threat. If it wasn't clear before, it should be clear now that there was no box and, if there was, Saddam wasn't in it. But there was a pocket (Saddam's) and he had the UN in it.

We know that the sanctions regime was not only corrupted, but disintegrating and serving only to enrich the dictator. And the Duelfer report showed us that, in anticipation of the final and formal elimination of sanctions, which Saddam's bribes to the UN and its members were serving to bring about, Saddam had his WMD programs (personnel, supply chain, technical documentation, etc.) primed and ready to go. Add in Saddam's proven ties to terrorist groups, including al Qaeda, and you've got a grave and gathering threat. With the West's proclivity for inaction, until hit in the face with catalyzing devastation, it would have been ludicrous to try to outwait Saddam. The UN clearly was only serving as cover for, and beneficiary of, Saddam's brutal and devious kleptocracy, so the only remaining option was his removal.

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