Bush calls for full UN oil-for-food probe
Reuters, Washington
The Bush administration made clear on Thursday it would not take a position on whether UN Secretary General Kofi Annan should resign as it awaited the results of an investigation into the UN oil-for-food scandal. President Bush called for a "full and open" accounting of Iraq's now-defunct oil-for-food programme following accusations Iraqi President Saddam Hussein illegally reaped billions of dollars from it because of Annan's lack of oversight. While that probe is still pending Secretary of State Colin Powell said the administration will not take a position one way or another on whether Annan should step down. "It would be inappropriate for the president to offer an opinion on this matter," Powell said in an interview with Radio Sawa, a US-funded, Arabic-language network targeting mainly youths in the Arab world.
| 
