The UN's High Commissioner for Refugees has stepped down:
In a bitterly worded resignation letter, Mr [Ruud] Lubbers suggested the UN secretary-general had bowed to media pressure amid a number of scandals including the alleged mismanagement of the oil-for-food programme in Iraq.
"Now, in the middle of a series of problems and with ongoing media pressure, you apparently view this [matter] differently", he wrote. "Despite all my loyalty, insult has now been added to injury and therefore I resign as high commissioner."
This news reminds me of Richard Nixon throwing Vice President Spiro Agnew to the hounds during Watergate. Agnew's resignation gave Nixon some temporary relief, but in the end Dick still got what he deserved.
If it turns out Deepthroat was fictional, will it turn out that Nixon was railroaded the same way that Rather/Mapes attempted to railroaded Bush?
Bruce, I think it unlikely. Bush's alleged behavior was not exceptional for the time, even if the most lurid details had some truth to them. And beyond transient embarrassment, such allegations had little to do with his subsequent fitness for office, beyond the usual hypocrisy indignance lobby.
The essential facts of Nixon's behaviors were of a more grave nature, though again there was some precedent from his predecessors. But Nixon took it to a new level, abused his power in ways both petty and serious, at a time when clearly virtuous leadership was a strict necessity for the national wellbeing.
Deep throat may have been a contrived composite, but the essential facts were out there, and they were sufficient to end Nixon's career.
Lubbers is only the tip of the iceberg. There's still the little issue of peacekeepers using and abusing refugees in their care in places as diverse as Kosovo and Congo. And by use and abuse, I mean sexually assaulting and raping refugees who are already in a very fragile state.
Lubbers resignation takes some pressure off Annan from within the Secretariat, which threw a hissy fit because Annan was essentially condoning the sexual harassment of individuals within the Secretariat.
