Delftsman

"useful Idiots"

I told a commenter in an earlier thread that Joseph Stalin had a term for those that didn't have a loyalty to their society as a whole, and the term was "useful idiots". Well, it seems that even former Presidents and First Ladies can fall into that category.
I don't believe that the Carters were aware of any wrongdoing involved with their charitable orginization, much less had an active hand in promulgating that wrongdoing, but the fact remains that they didn't keep a close enough eye on what was happening through the ageis of their good works.

In dealing with people such as Saddam Hussein, it behooves the people dealing with him to expend extra vigilence in those dealings to ensure that they truly do meet the expectations put upon them, and not used as a cover for the graft and perfidity that Saddam dealt in as a matter of course. It seems that the Carters fell into the "the UN sanctions it, so it MUST be on the up and up" trap. It also serves as yet another example of the corruption filled cesspool that the UN has become.

That the specific donations were legal and (hopefully) put to good use doesn't negate the broader taint of corruption and influence peddleing that they helped to engender. "useful idiots" indeed!