For six months, I have insisted that Annan be held accountable for the U.N.'s gross mismanagement of the Oil-for-Food Program. Last week, the U.N.'s own investigators issued a report criticizing Annan's own conduct -- including his failure to resolve a serious conflict of interest concerning his son -- and the conduct of his chief of staff. ...

Annan, as the U.N.'s CEO, is ultimately responsible for the organization's performance. My call for Annan's resignation was not, and is not, based on the misconduct of his son; instead, Annan must be held accountable for his failures and his organization's widespread ineptitude. In short, the buck stops with Annan. ...

Most disturbing was the Volcker panel's finding concerning Annan's chief of staff, who -- on the day after the Volcker committee was created -- authorized the destruction of three years' worth of documents. This report did not "exonerate" Annan -- rather, it chastises him for yet another serious lapse of management, and identifies more serious misconduct by Annan's hand-picked advisers.

The secretary-general's failings, however, are not limited to past mismanagement. For instance, he has failed to strip Sevan's diplomatic immunity, despite the wealth of evidence establishing Sevan's misconduct. Worse, the U.N. also agreed to reimburse Sevan out of oil revenues from the program for his hefty legal fees resulting from its investigation. That the U.N. would pay for Sevan's defense, when it has found him responsible for unethical misconduct, is beyond comprehension.

Coleman, who chairs the US Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, told reporters outside Miraflores, the Venezuelan Presidential palace, that "President Chavez clearly articulated a desire for better relations with the United States."

Coleman continued, noting that "[Chavez] also articulated differences and concerns of past grievances, but then made a statement: let us turn the page." ...

Evidence collected by New York human rights attorney Eva Golinger has provided evidence that the US has prior knowledge of and supported the short-lived coup that toppled the Chavez administration for 48 hours and suspended the Constitution and all democratic institutions in the country. Chavez has also warned that the US is planning to assassinate him....

Coleman, a former NY democrat who switched parties in 1996 and launched an unsuccessful bid for Minnesota's governorship to Jesse Ventura in 1998, attempted to sooth Chavez' fears that Washington was planning to assassinate him. "I told him, ‘don’t lose sleep at night over that,'" the Senator recounted "...the United States, the CIA and the US military are not and will not be involved in any efforts to destabilize him or attack him in any ways."