Oil-for-food ?

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In quieter times, I once described Kofi Annan as a good man in a difficult job. That's a vast understatement today. Greatness is required now from the secretary-general if he is to rescue the United Nations from mounting threats to its reputation and effectiveness.

The most immediate peril to the U.N.'s good name rises from the scandal engulfing its oil-for-food program, which was long used by Iraq's Baathist regime to extort kickbacks from international oil traders. Those under-the-table payoffs helped Saddam Hussein break sanctions, fund weapons programs and build those obscenely gaudy palaces.

Whether U.N. personnel were directly involved in the corruption is a matter of dispute and of investigation. But the mechanics of the payoff scheme have been stripped bare in Baathist files uncovered in Baghdad by the Iraqi National Congress. Rep. Christopher Shays is conducting a House subcommittee inquiry and will hold hearings later this week.