Prone to Hyberbole: Rosett and the Trial of Tongsun Park

Over at National Review Online, Claudia Rosett offers running commentary on the trial of Tongsun Park, a shadowy influence peddler who is accused of being an unregistered agent of Saddam Hussein during the Oil for Food program’s formative years.To Rosett, Oil for Food is not only the biggest scandal to hit the United Nations, but “arguably, the biggest scam in history.”

The problem for Rosett is that this is something of a non-story by now. Many of the oversight and accountability recommendations from the no-nonsense Volcker Indepedent Inquiry Committee are already in place. And the major players in the scandal (like Park) are either facing trial or have faced disciplinary action one way or another.

In her zeal to expose the United Nations, I’m afraid that Rosett seems to have lost her sense of proportionality. The biggest scams in history are the ones that never went to trial, let alone generate robust oversight and accountability mechanisms to avoid even the appearance of impropriety in the future.