Embassy Row

French anger

French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte was just getting over the “diplomatic hurricane” caused by France’s opposition to the war in Iraq when another scandal erupted.

He now has to defend his country against accusations of corruption in the United Nations’ oil-for-food program, and he is blaming the right-wing news media.

“I have been deeply surprised in the last few days to see a campaign of unfounded accusations against my country flourish again in the media … spread by a handful of influential, conservative TV and newspaper journalists in the U.S.,” he wrote in the Los Angeles Times last week.

“These allegations suggest that the government of France condoned kickbacks — bribes, in effect — from French companies to the Iraqi regime [of Saddam Hussein] in return for further contracts. They say Paris turned a blind eye to these activities,” he wrote.

“Let me be absolutely clear. These aspersions are completely false and can only have been an effort to discredit France, a longtime friend and ally of the U.S.”

Conservative reporters, however, are not the only ones probing the accusations against France, as well as other countries that also happened to oppose the war.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard G. Lugar last week criticized France, Russia and China for hindering an investigation into the lucrative U.N. program. The congressional General Accounting Office estimates that Saddam skimmed $10 billion from the proceeds from oil deals that were supposed to be used to feed to his people.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan agreed to an investigation reluctantly, but Mr. Lugar, Indiana Republican, doubts that the United Nations is capable of investigating itself.

Aristide’s departure

Haiti’s Jean-Bertrand Aristide went into exile passively and philosophically with no pressure from the United States, according to U.S. Ambassador to Haiti James Foley.

Mr. Foley, in an interview with the Associated Press, said he had several conversations with the ousted president throughout the night before he fled the capital, Port-au-Prince, on Feb. 29. Mr. Aristide later said the United States kidnapped him and forced him into exile.

The ambassador told a different story, one of an embattled leader resigned to his fate after years of disastrous rule marred by violence against political opponents and accusations of drug trafficking.

“We talked all night, at least four times,” Mr. Foley told AP. “It was a very poignant series of conversations. I saluted him for putting the interests of the country first.

“It was a friendly conversation. I told him how very sad I thought it was that this is happening. … It was a very sad series of conversations.”

With rebels controlling half the country and moving on the capital, Mr. Aristide realized that he would cause a bloodbath if he insisted on remaining in office, Mr. Foley said.

“What was surprising was his passivity and philosophical resignation,” he said.

Tajiks released

Four citizens of the Central Asian nation of Tajikistan have been released from U.S. detention in Cuba, apparently because they had no useful information about terrorist operations.

“Four [detainees] have returned to Tajikistan,” U.S. Ambassador Richard Hoagland told reporters yesterday in the capital, Dushanbe.

They were among 11 Tajiks held since the 2001 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan that toppled the Taliban regime for sheltering Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda terrorist network.

Mr. Hoagland provided no other details about their release, but the U.S. Embassy had alerted reporters about the imminent release of several detainees who had “no useful information to offer.”

Tajikistan, a U.S. ally in the war on terrorism, allowed American forces to fly over its air space and use its military bases in the war in Afghanistan.

• Call Embassy Row at 202/636-3297, fax 202/832-7278 or e-mail jmorrison @washingtontimes.com.