BREAKING: Oil-For-Food Shocker!

Right-wing bloggers and anti-UN triumphalists always seem to forget that US oil companies were as implicated in the oil-for-food scandal as anyone else:

A Virginia oil trading company pleaded guilty to scheming to pay more than $400,000 in kickbacks to Iraqi officials for oil it purchased under the U.N. oil-for-food program, the Manhattan district attorney said Thursday.

Midway Trading, a Reston-based firm, agreed to pay a $250,000 fine after admitting to first-degree grand larceny in a plea deal reached Wednesday, Dist. Atty. Robert Morgenthau said at a news conference.

Morgenthau said the kickbacks were paid in 2001 to Iraqi officials in Tikrit, hometown of Saddam Hussein, who was then president of Iraq. Midway agreed to pay the kickbacks only after Iraq refused to load the oil unless the money was provided, the district attorney's office said.

You won't see any of this on Instapundit today. Guess it's not an "UNSCAM update!"

Meanwhile, the Bush Administration is perfectly willing to back the UN when it produces a report that helps satisfy their goals. The UN report on Syria's involvement in the assassination of Lebanese politician Rafik Hariri shows that the world body is vital and can bring to bear strong condemnation and consensus. Indeed, consensus is the world John Bolton was using:

"After an initial read, the results are clearly troubling," U.N. Ambassador John R. Bolton said. "This will require further discussion among members of the international community."

Further discussion? Who kidnapped John Bolton and put this pussy in his place? I didn't know Ol' Moustache believed there was an international community! I guess when that community agrees with you, they're a trusted friend. When they don't, they cease to exist.