Did Volcker Cut Annan Some Slack?

Despite Paul Volcker's dictatorial declarations and obstructionism, Congress may yet hear from one or both UN Oil for Food investigators who recently resigned.

The Senate may force the testimony of a senior investigator who resigned from the independent committee probing the U.N. oil-for-food scandal because he considered an interim report too soft on secretary General Kofi Annan a senator said Friday.

Paul Volcker, has been calling senators and congressmen, urging them not subpoena the investigator, Robert Parton. Volcker has emphasized the confidentiality agreement in Parton's contract and the U.N.-appointed committee's diplomatic immunity, said Mike Holtzman, a spokesman for the Volcker committee.

But Sen. Norm Coleman R-Minn., who chairs the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and has repeatedly called for Annan to resign, released a statement saying that he has ordered his staff to issue subpoenas as soon as possible to Parton and Miranda Duncan, a second investigator who also quit.

Why Paul Volcker would be "easy"in Annan is at the very least curious. Upon scanning the report, one cannot help but get the sense that it has been moderated.