Jeffrey Sachs does an impressive job of whitewashing Kofi Annan's awful record as secretary-general of the UN. Mr Sachs seems to have forgotten Annan's role in overseeing the "Oil for Food Programme", which was the biggest scandal in UN history (a history filled with scandals). Saddam Hussein and his co-conspirators ripped off billions of dollars from the programme, which allowed Hussein to build palaces and weapons while the Iraqi people died from starvation and a lack of medicine. Kofi's son, Kojo, just happened to get a job with the company that Kofi hired to audit the programme. Kojo did nothing for his employer, but was paid a very nice salary. Annan was also useless in preventing UN employees from running a teenage prostitution ring in Africa, where UN employees also engaged in rape.

 It is not surprising that Annan was a total failure as the secretary-general, as he proved his incompetence as the UN's head of peacekeeping in the early 1990s. It was Annan who made the decision to remove all UN peacekeepers from Rwanda, which resulted in the murder of 700,000 human beings.

 I think it is safe to assume that the incoming secretary-general will do a better job than Annan. Yet, given the UN's history, we should not hold out too much hope that the new man will do more than dine with his UN buddies at ritzy New York restaurants and amass stacks of parking tickets that he will never pay.

Josh Baker

Thailand

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Sri Lankan rebels train suicide bombers as the UN looks on

Re: "Sri Lanka's shame", Opinion, November 23. Mr Allan Rock was in Sri Lanka recently as a special UN envoy to investigate child recruitment by terrorists. It is a well-known fact that terrorists have infiltrated the UN, as there are many sympathisers in the UN office in Sri Lanka. This has been easily accomplished by LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam] terrorists, by providing financial remuneration for these lapdogs for invaluable services rendered to the LTTE.

For the LTTE, palming over a few thousand dollars is child's play, as their collection from drug trafficking and other well-known nefarious activities must run into the millions of dollars.

 The modern cult of the suicide bomber was created by LTTE monster, Prabhakaran. We refer to him as the "father of suicide bombers". How he does it is very simple, but time-consuming. He selects boys and girls around 10 years of age from poor Tamil families experiencing hardships. Some are recruited forcibly. Others are recruited by paying their parents a measly monthly amount for their sustenance. Then they are brainwashed. This part is time consuming and takes about five years to make them fully committed to the "cause". So by the age of 15 to 18, they are ready for "action".

 I would not be surprised if the LTTE terrorist network is one of the most formidable and sophisticated in the world. All the other terrorist outfits play second fiddle to the LTTE. This terrorist cancer has spread all over the world, and Prabhakaran is also responsible for training suicide bombers in the Middle East.

 How many LTTE sympathisers are working under the UN secretary-general? It is very unfortunate that some so-called human-rights organisations are prepaid to shake hands with LTTE terrorists. Will these same human-rights groups condemn using children as suicide bombers? The UN must gather enough courage to draw the line. Are the people in this world going crazy? Are we doomed forever? I hope the new secretary-general of the UN will clean up this mess.

Ananda Jayasinghe

Canada

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Hypocritical singer should apologise for 9/11 comments

Re: "Another life", Weekend, November 25. I was appalled to see the article on Yusuf Islam, formerly Cat Stevens, reprinted from The Guardian.

Do we all have such a short memory? After 9/11, Yusuf was quoted as saying: "America got just what it deserved." By logical extrapolation, innocent people everywhere get just what they deserve when they die at the hands of terrorists. People of all faiths perished in that disaster, their families torn apart by wanton acts of terrorism. How can anyone forget the image of innocent people jumping from the World Trade Towers in one last desperate act? Does anyone deserve this? Do fire-fighters, policemen and other rescue personnel deserve to have a building collapse on them while attempting to save lives? Do innocent people anywhere deserve to die because of differing beliefs? How can any sane person justify these cold, despicable and cowardly acts?

What you wish for others, you ultimately wish for yourself. What if one of Yusuf's family members died in that disaster? Would that be fair and just? The article suggested there were religious and political topics that Yusuf did not want to discuss. This is his right. This was cloaked by the "artistic air" of talent, enlightenment and artistic process. I call it fear; fear that if the truth were told, we would find that Yusuf is a racist and concerned only with the number of sales of his new CD to the great unwashed public who do not share his beliefs. In short, I find Yusuf to be a fraud, a charlatan, a prejudiced deceiver and impostor - to himself, his music, his people and his religion. He should take his own advice and jump on his own "Peace Train", which should include all races and creeds. A train that welcomes diversity and tolerance. A train made late by his own words and actions.

I, for one, will never buy, attend or listen to any musical offerings by Yusuf until he sees the light and offers a much overdue apology. He has a large public stage to do some good, as is his expressed desire. I wish he would - rather than just give lip service to that great ideal for monetary gain.

Stephen Mascari

Bangkok

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Israel an easy scapegoat for all the woes in the Middle East

Re: "More than meets the eye in the Middle East dispute", Letters, November 23.

May I take the opportunity to congratulate Edward B Duhigg on his fine analysis of the mystery surrounding the tragic assassination of Lebanese minister Pierre Gemayel. Just who did it? Mr Duhigg points the finger at sinister manipulators behind the scenes in the time-honoured fall-back strategy of Israel-bashers. When in doubt, blame Israel. When not in doubt, blame Israel again, just in case.

Now, who would really profit from the death of the vocally anti-Syrian Pierre Gemayel, whose sacked-by-bullets absence from the Lebanese cabinet is further destabilising the country? The beleaguered government is already under siege from Hezbollah's political wing, the same Islamic fundamentalists who happen to be among Israel's arch enemies and staunch allies both of Syria and Iran, also sworn foes of the Jewish state. Surely not Hezbollah and their foreign patrons; but of course, it's Israel and the neo-cons in Washington.

I suppose Rafik Hariri and all other anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians and journalists too, have been butchered by Mossad agents or their proxies in Lebanon rather than by Hezbollah or Syrian hit men. The mind boggles, doesn't it, Mr Duhigg? Just what all these Machiavellian Zionists would not do to destabilise the Middle East yet again.

Daniel Rothburn

Bangkok

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Just state the real and simple reason for the coup

Re: "Reasons for the coup", News, November 22. The military leaders who executed the coup have come out with a 35-page white paper to explain why they did it. I haven't seen this white paper, but the description The Nation gives of its contents is disappointing. The most obvious reason for the coup is omitted, and it causes me to wonder why.

 Think about it. There were repeated demonstrations against Thaksin's administration . There was a questionable assassination attempt on Thaksin, after which he fired a key general, replacing him with his own man. I read reports of troops loyal to Thaksin being moved to Bangkok. Somewhere on the horizon was the possibility of a catastrophic clash between Thaksin-controlled soldiers and demonstrators.

 Wouldn't that be the No-1 reason for the coup? To prevent bloodshed? With that reason they wouldn't have needed 35 pages. One would have sufficed, and no one could argue with it. How strange it wasn't even mentioned.

Walter Guest

Bangkok

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Cause for concern over constitution-drafting panel

Re: Road map needed to restore confidence," opinion, November 18.

It is refreshing to see a clear and well-reasoned column on the political situation by Abhisit Vejjajiva, the leader of the Democrat Party. His call to maintain the core elements and provisions of the 1997 "People's Constitution" is welcome, since that document broke new ground for popular participation and respect for the human rights of the Thai people.

The fact that the Constitution was subverted by Thaksin and his Thai Rak Thai Party does not detract from that 1997 Constitution but rather argues for reforms to close loopholes in that excellent framework for democratic governance. In particular, independent institutions need to be further strengthened to resist the intrusion of the political-business elite and guarantee justice to petitioners. The hope is that as the Thai people find they can effectively use such mechanisms to secure justice for their grievances, there will be a groundswell of support for those independent institutions.

However, I worry that Abhisit's vision for preserving the core elements of the 1997 Constitution is unlikely to be fulfilled. First of all, half of the 200 seats in the Constitution Drafting Assembly will be appointed by the military's CNS. Second, the other half of the CDA members will be selected by the current National Legislative Assembly, which has Meechai Ruchupan as chairman. Lest we forget, Meechai's claim to fame is drafting the 1991 Constitution to cement military dominance over politics for the discredited National Peacekeeping Council of General Suchinda Kraprayoon; writing the amnesty that pardoned Suchinda and his cohorts after they killed democracy protesters in May 1992; and, most recently, serving as a legal gun for hire for Thaksin.

Observers should keep their eye on the ball - which is the new constitution to be drafted, and what rights it will guarantee citizens. So far, with the CNS and Meechai running the show, the trend bodes ill for the hope for participatory democracy in Thailand.

Philip Robertson

Bangko