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At UN, Clooney Says In Lockheed No-Bid Darfur Deal Mistakes Were Made

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, January 31 -- "I'm not a fan of no-bid contracts, myself," actor and UN Messenger of Peace George Clooney said Thursday, when asked about the UN's $250 million sole source deal with Lockheed Martin for its Darfur peacekeeping mission. Next to Clooney sat UN official Jane Holl Lute, who as early of April 2007 advocated for steering the business to Lockheed, three months before the Security Council authorized the "UNAMID" peacekeeping mission, and five months before Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon unilaterally waived all contracting rules for UNAMID. "There've been some mistakes made in that period of time," Clooney said, adding that "the UN has learned lessons." Video here, from Minute 18:54.

            But what lessons? Clooney turned to Jane Holl Lute to answer the question, and she argued that the lack of competition was authorized, if only after-the-fact, by the Secretary-General's October 2007 ruling, and she disputed that the General Assembly has called for an investigation of the Lockheed contract. Unclear what lessons except denial had taken hold, Inner City Press asked a follow-up question about the timeline of the decision to give the deal to Lockheed, and the after-arising Security Council vote and Ban Ki-moon ruling. "I'm willing to sit down and go over the timeline," Ms. Lute said, after having refused or ignored request since October to answer questions about her role in the deal, including any safeguards concerning the possible conflicts of interest raised by her husband's service as U.S. President Bush's war czar for Iraq and Afghanistan. "We learned a lot, as George mentioned," she said.

            It is striking that while the UN Secretariat has been dismissive of the concerns raised about the contract by the member states in the General Assembly, it takes the gentle chiding of an actor and new Messenger of Peace to eke out at least an admission that lessons have been learned. Such is the power of celebrity, or the lack of democracy within the UN system. The Secretariat in theory works for all of the members states in the General Assembly. But several Ambassadors complained that Ms. Lute's peacekeeping support office did not answer all their questions about the contract, but that they had no choice but to approve UNAMID's budget as submitted in December, lest they be accused of abetting genocide in Darfur.


Clooney does not like no-bid contracts, Jane Holl Lute thinks about it

            To his credit, while Clooney could have responded either that he did not know about the contract, or have reflexively defended all UN decisions, he instead nodded with recognition when Inner City Press asked the question, and then acknowledged that mistakes had been made. Video here, from Minute 18:54. We will report on this topic again once Ms. Lute, as promised, makes herself available to answer questions about the timeline of her advocating for Lockheed Martin to get the no-bid contract and related matters. Watch this site.

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These reports are also available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.

Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund.  Video Analysis here

  Because a number of Inner City Press' UN sources go out of their way to express commitment to serving the poor, and while it should be unnecessary, Inner City Press is compelled to conclude this installment in a necessarily-ongoing series by saluting the stated goals of the UN agencies and many of their staff. Keep those cards, letters and emails coming, and phone calls too, we apologize for any phone tag, but please continue trying, and keep the information flowing.

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UN Office: S-453A, UN, NY 10017 USA Tel: 212-963-1439

Reporter's mobile (and weekends): 718-716-3540