Monday, May 12, 2003
Quickly resolve U.S. trust assets
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
Irony alert: The United States promises to use Iraq's resource wealth
for the benefit of the Iraqi people.
Does that pledge have a familiar ring? It should because it's the
same agreement this nation made when it conquered American Indians.
An elaborate system, set up in 1887, outlines the federal "trust
responsibility" to manage timber, oil and other economic assets for
the benefit of individuals and tribes.
The problem is the federal government lost track of how much money it
was supposed to collect for its trustees. The Interior Department
cannot account for billions of dollars and hasn't been able to show
progress in reconciliation. Last week a federal judge presiding over
a 7-year-old lawsuit threatened to place individual accounts in
receivership and strip the Interior Department of its authority.
What's worse is that U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth says
it's difficult to know when the government is telling the truth --
and so the appointment of a receiver "is one of those options I'm
going to entertain."
It seems that the administration -- and this legal battle goes back
several administrations -- cannot muster the will to solve the
problem. That must change. This case will only get more expensive for
taxpayers. Especially if a federal court throws up its hands and
declares the federal government incompetent as a manager of the
trust.
It's also a lousy message when the United States is promising to
manage another postwar, resource-based trust.
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