BACKSTABBING FOR BEGINNERS

United Nations whistleblower Soussan jauntily recounts his tenure coordinating the Iraq Oil-For-Food program, revealing why bribery and kickbacks were tolerated.

Soussan (Global Affairs/New York Univ.) was recruited to the UN in 1997 to help with the expansion of an unprecedented program to use Iraq’s oil revenues for humanitarian aid such as food and medicine to counter the effects of sanctions on the civilian population. A do-gooder and recent college graduate, he jumped at the opportunity to make a difference and was soon processing contracts worth $10 billion annually. In grimly humorous prose he describes the characters he encountered in his travels and at the UN. Iraqi officials, such as Minister for Foreign Affairs Mohammed Said al-Sahaf, were often threatening and offensive, blowing off steam that “came accompanied with spit-filled cigarette breath.” The head of the Oil-For-Food program, a Cypriot nicknamed “Pasha,” was a manipulative, deliberately obfuscating manager who used mumbling incomprehensibility to confound his opponents. Cindy, a woman seeking power in this male-dominated UN arena, called men “dickheads” and sexually harassed a Lebanese employee. Soussan describes a UN culture focused on petty office politics and personal rivalries. Pasha endangered hundreds of lives during the 1998 U.S. strike against suspected weapons facilities by refusing to evacuate UN humanitarian personnel, simply because the evacuation request came from a subordinate he disliked. But the most egregious crime, Soussan declares, was that UN employees turned a blind eye to endemic fraud in the Oil-For-Food program. No one wanted to create trouble and threaten their careers; survival meant not taking risks and making sure to “fly under the radar.” By the time the scandal broke in 2004, billions of dollars had been siphoned off as kickbacks to Saddam Hussein’s regime in return for contracts. Hussein had allocated low-priced oil contracts to front companies representing French, Russian, British and Middle Eastern politicians—and even (no big surprise) Pasha.

An insightful exposé, spiked with outraged wit.