At UN, Clooney Says In Lockheed No-Bid Darfur Deal
Mistakes Were Made
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at
the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, January 31 -- "I'm not a
fan of no-bid contracts, myself," actor and UN Messenger of Peace George Clooney
said Thursday, when asked about the UN's $250 million sole source deal with
Lockheed Martin for its Darfur peacekeeping mission. Next to Clooney sat UN
official Jane Holl Lute, who as early of
April 2007 advocated for steering the
business to Lockheed, three
months before the Security Council authorized the "UNAMID" peacekeeping mission,
and five months before Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon unilaterally waived all
contracting rules for UNAMID. "There've been some mistakes made in that period
of time," Clooney said, adding that "the UN has learned lessons." Video
here,
from Minute 18:54.
But what lessons? Clooney turned
to Jane Holl Lute to answer the question, and she argued that the lack of
competition was authorized, if only after-the-fact, by the Secretary-General's
October 2007 ruling, and she disputed that the General Assembly has called for
an investigation of the Lockheed contract. Unclear what lessons except denial
had taken hold, Inner City Press asked a follow-up question about the timeline
of the decision to give the deal to Lockheed, and the after-arising Security
Council vote and Ban Ki-moon ruling. "I'm willing to sit down and go over the
timeline," Ms. Lute said, after having refused or ignored request since October
to answer questions about her role in the deal, including any safeguards
concerning the possible conflicts of interest raised by her husband's service as
U.S. President Bush's war czar for Iraq and Afghanistan. "We learned a lot, as
George mentioned," she said.
It is striking that while the
UN Secretariat has been dismissive of the
concerns raised about the contract by the
member states in the General Assembly,
it takes the gentle chiding of an actor and new Messenger of Peace to eke out at
least an admission that lessons have been learned. Such is the power of
celebrity, or the lack of democracy within the UN system. The Secretariat in
theory works for all of the members states in the General Assembly. But several
Ambassadors complained that Ms. Lute's peacekeeping support office did not
answer all their questions about the contract, but that they had no choice but
to approve UNAMID's budget as submitted in December, lest they be accused of
abetting genocide in Darfur.
Clooney does not like no-bid
contracts, Jane Holl Lute thinks about it
To his credit, while Clooney could have
responded either that he did not know about the contract, or have reflexively
defended all UN decisions, he instead nodded with recognition when Inner City
Press asked the question, and then acknowledged that mistakes had been made.
Video here, from Minute 18:54. We will report on this topic again once Ms. Lute,
as promised, makes herself available to answer questions about the timeline of
her advocating for Lockheed Martin to get the no-bid contract and related
matters. Watch this site.
* * *
These reports are also available through
Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here for a
Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army.
Click
here
for an earlier
Reuters AlertNet
piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's
$200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund.
Video
Analysis here
Because a number of Inner City Press'
UN sources go out of their way to express commitment to serving the poor, and
while it should be unnecessary, Inner City Press is compelled to conclude this
installment in a necessarily-ongoing series by saluting the stated goals of the
UN agencies and many of their staff. Keep those cards, letters and emails
coming, and phone calls too, we apologize for any phone tag, but please continue
trying, and keep the information flowing.
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
UN Office: S-453A,
UN, NY 10017 USA Tel: 212-963-1439
Reporter's mobile
(and weekends): 718-716-3540
Other, earlier Inner
City Press are listed here, and
some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com -
UN Office: S-453A,
UN, NY 10017 USA Tel: 212-963-1439
Reporter's mobile
(and weekends): 718-716-3540
