The Info in Rhode Island and Around the World

I'd hazard a guess that Jill Dau, of Cumberland, Rhode Island, doesn't read Friends of Saddam, a blog devoted to the unraveling oil-for-food scandal. I'd even go so far as to suggest that she doesn't read Instapundit. Here's part of a letter that she wrote to the Providence Journal that shows why I'm willing to make such gambles on the information sources of a person whom I don't know:

Isn't it time for America to transfer power to the United Nations? Our arrogance continues to paint bigger targets on American backs.

(Just to clarify: she seems to be limiting her prescription to our handling of Iraq, although she may be among that crowd, chiefly Democrats and other liberals, for whom the advice might be more broadly applicable.)

There are only two possibilities, as far as I can tell. Either Ms. Dau hasn't come across good-sized portions of the relevant information, or she's willing to place such a pivotal nation as Iraq in the hands of an organization that's apathetic about genocide, so much so that it's impeding efforts to investigate corruption that facilitated Saddam Hussein's work in that area. I'll pick the charitable option.

After all, a quick search of the Providence Journal's online archives yields only two abstracts of pieces that deal directly with the oil-for-food scandal this year — "Annan-gate," a 96-word editorial from March 21, and "U.N. 'help' for Iraq," a 436-word editorial from last Wednesday. To be fair, I don't read the printed version of the paper, and it's possible that the news or editorial department ran a story from a different source, such as the AP. However, it's also fair to say that mainstream media coverage of the scandal has been woefully meager. For example, there's nothing currently on the ProJo's Web site about secretive memos. There's also nothing, as it happens, about the human-rights credentials that the U.N. is willing to grant to Sudan.

Nonetheless, I have to wonder whether it is possible for the sort of person who would take the time to write to a newspaper not to have heard a hint of such scandals. I guess it is, particularly given the human tendency to overlook sparse tidbits that might tilt a pilaster of one's entire worldview. It's quite a bit easier to construct a comfortable model for international policy if there's a pure and infallible organization to shoulder every burden.

ADDENDUM:
Somehow, a letter from Albino Conte, of Johnston, Rhode Island, seems related in ways that flow just below the surface of the different topics:

I was amused by the minuscule April 13 article, "Award for abuse victims," buried on page A-3, about the millions of dollars paid out by the Lutheran Church for sexual abuse. If it had been the Catholic Church, it would have been front-page news.