55
and Israel complaining about Waldheim’s objectivity following the openness to Palestinian representation at special
Security Council conferences on the Middle East.
62
This was discussed in the interview with Dr. Diego Cordovez who would one day serve as special representative
to Cyprus.
63
As per the interview with former Chief of Staff under Waldheim, Rafie Ahmed, as well as by Dr. Albert Rohan.
64
This point was made by Dr. Jonah in response to questions about the Waldheim legacy and successful
achievements from his years of service. Jonah spoke at great length of the importance of the regulation – not a
splashy achievement but a significant one that continues to be utilized.
65
The comments about Waldheim’s lack of interest in administrative details of staffing were made by James Jonah
in an interview on January 30, 2005. Although Jonah regretted the process where politics would encourage staff
expansion over against the ideals of a neutral international civil service, he underscored the reality that the practice
had not only continued since Waldheim but increased handicapping the capabilities of the Secretariat and the
executive offices. A similar complaint was also registered by both Albert Rohan and Diego Cordovez.
66
This point was emphatically made by both Diego Cordovez and James Jonah describing the importance of African
affairs and decolonization during Waldheim’s tenure.
67
The impressions of James Jonah Under-Secretary General for Administration and also chiefly responsible for
actions taken and representing the Secretary-General in the Middle East.
68
Common to the responses of all interviewed would be something similar to, “yes, he was a moral man and sought
to do good things through the office of Secretary-General, but he should have been more transparent about his past
and more forthcoming about such information. It is perhaps a part of his cultural heritage and diplomatic training to
provide information as needed and for clear purposes, hence a part of pragmatism.” And for some, comments
included that “history would revisit the events and motives” at a later time. One colleague, Mr. Sambar who served
in the Middle East and worked with the events in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and later in Iran, allowed his thoughts to
wander speculating about how much the post World War II allies had known about Mr. Waldheim’s wartime service
record and to what degree did this influence his relationship with the Cold-War superpowers. Dr. Ahmed pointed to
Waldheim’s abilities to work with all the members of the Security Council over a long period of time, while Dr.
Cordavez sighted the fact that Waldheim almost reached a third term as evidence that fears of collusion would be
unfounded.
69
This statement about Austrian victimization or a paraphrase of it was heard both in the interview with Dr.
Waldheim and Dr. Rohan on January 21, 2005 in their respective homes.
70
For this, one detailed account based upon interviews with community members, former French and German
military and political figures, and survivors, and documents is Philip Hallie’s Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed,
published by Harper/Colophon Books of New York in 1979.
71
Simon Kuper. “Delivered from Evil,” The Financial Times. January 22/23, 2005, pages W-1 to W-2.
72
Langdon Gilkey. Shantung Compound. (San Francisco: Harper and Row Publishers, 1966, p. 93).
73
Ibid. P. 110.
74
Bruce C. Birch and Larry L. Rasmussen. Bible and Ethics in the Christian Life. (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress
Press, 1989; p. 87.)
75
Ibid. P. 92.
76
Ibid. P. 94.
77
This was the final congruence among many of those interviewed. All identified the political context of the Cold
War as a significant constraint upon independent action during the Waldheim years.
Convention