Yes, you read right. Kofi Annan has gone and done appointed Bill Clinton to head the UN’s efforts at post-tsunami reconstruction. Since the Secretary General is apparently too busy to bother issuing his own statement, one of his staff does so:
“The secretary-general is confident that President Clinton will bring energy, dynamism and focus to the task of sustaining world interest in the vital recovery and reconstruction phase following the tsunami disaster. He believes that no one could possibly be better qualified for this task.”
Is your stomach turning yet? Anyway, Annan is going to tap Clinton for helping to resolve the issues of the Sri Lankan and Indonesian insurrections as well. We’ll see how far that goes, considering his “stunning successes” with Somalia, Kosovo and North Korea!
And since Clinton gets closer to that unspoken desire to become UN Secretary General, not only do the Asians have something to say about that since they are next in line to inherit the office (it traditionally goes on a rotating basis by continent), so does former U.S. Senator Jesse Helms, who has presented a petition to President Bush to implore him to do everything he can to make sure Clinton’s wish doesn’t come true.
Hey, where can I sign that?