Hi bob,
I usually refer to my employer as a large multi-national organization - keeping a low profile.
I wasn't really gone, lurking around here frequently.  But started in a new assignment a couple of months ago - it's been busy.  BTW, I work in the development/humanitarian sphere - not the political one.

It has been very frustrating to see the misdirected criticism.  Yes, the OFF enabled Saddam to siphon off enormous resources, but as outlined above, this was not the UN's responsibility.  It was not staff that failed, it was the respective national delegations (some particular ones) that prevented the UN from fully implementing the sanctions.

In the comments over at BT, Oui posted this link to a Kos-entry early November.  I had missed it then, but it is an excellent piece, which unfortunately did not get much attention.

Anyway, time to wrap up here in the office - it's weekend!