Norm Coleman loudly called for UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to resign in 2004. As CNN reported:
“The U.S. senator leading the investigation into allegations of corruption and mismanagement in the Iraq oil-for-food program is urging U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to resign, saying the ‘massive scope of this debacle demands nothing less.’
Annan declined to comment on the call, made by Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minnesota, in an opinion piece in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal.”
Now Annan is still in his position even after the oil-for-food investigation and his pronouncement that the Iraq war was illegal. I wondered if Coleman, a Senator from Minnesota, still longed for Annan’s removal so I called his Washington office.
“Where are you calling from sir?” After asking for my name and web site, the staffer that answered the phone checked if the press secretary was in, but unfortunately he wasn’t. Offered voicemail, I decided instead to see if she could help me. After she deflected two questions about Annan, I went with a pretty straightforward one, but still faced obfuscation–here’s the exchange:
“Dinosaur Country Tribune: Is he in touch with the people of Minnosata on the Iraq, um, issue?
Coleman staffer: Sir, I would definitely will have to get you the press–the senator’s press secratary, I cannot comment for the Senator on this issue.”
[photo: Reuters – Coleman with Richard Lugar and John Bolton in July 2006]