Former President Jimmy Carter has been linked with a key figure in the U.N.'s oil-for-food scandal by the group leading the nationwide effort to evict the United Nations from American soil and halt U.S. funding of the U.N.I don't think much of this sort of thing... If government officials had to vet every single lobbyist that came to visit, nothing would ever get done. On the other hand, this article makes a pretty strong circumstancial evidence type case against Carter. It will be interesting to see who comes to his aid and what exactly they have to say.
Move America Forward today will call upon Carter to provide a full accounting of his meetings and conversations with Samir Vincent, who yesterday pleaded guilty to participating in numerous illegal activities as part of the U.N. scandal.
"President Carter needs to tell the American people exactly what relationships he had with the individuals involved in the oil-for-food scandal," said Melanie Morgan, co-chairman of Move America Forward, which is running television ads attacking the U.N. on national cable news networks, conducting an online petition drive and soliciting contributions to spread the message of the TV spots.
Personally, I think MAF is grasping at straws with this one...there are plenty of good valid reasons to criticize the UN, why drag Mr. Peanut in to it?
1/21 Update - Kemp Questioned
From the New York Post:Former Republican vice-presidential candidate and New York Congressman Jack Kemp has been questioned by the FBI in the U.N. oil-for-food scandal, it was revealed last night. Newsweek magazine reported on its Web site that the ex-Buffalo Bills quarterback faces scrutiny about his dealings with Virginia-based oil trader Samir Vincent, who earlier this week became the first figure to be formally charged with criminal wrongdoing in the $21.3 billion global scandal. The magazine identified Kemp as the former senior U.S. government official whom the feds said Vincent contacted on behalf of Saddam Hussein in an attempt to weaken and repeal sanctions on Iraq. Former White House lawyer Lanny Davis, speaking on Kemp’s behalf, confirmed to The Post that Kemp was interviewed by the FBI in October, but, “as far as we are aware, he is not a target. He is not a subject of any kind of investigation.” Davis, a Kemp pal who was President Bill Clinton's White House counsel, said Kemp never took any money or had any business relationship with Vincent — and was not aware that Vincent was an Iraqi agent.Yet another story where we'll just have to wait and see what facts emerge from the investigation. Unlike the MAF allegations towards President Carter, at least the NYP has an actual FBI investigation to report on this one... In the end though, I suspect this will be another one of those situations where a lobbyist tried and failed to get what he and his client wanted...no story there...unless it can be proven that Kemp did actually provide some sort of assistance, which doesn't appear to be the case.
