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The U.N. Oil for Food Scandal
The Washington Times April 20, 2004 Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry complains that President Bush pursued a unilateralist foreign policy that gave short shrift to the concerns of the United Nations and our allies when it came to taking military action against Saddam Hussein. But the mounting evidence of scandal that has been uncovered in the U.N. Oil For Food program suggests that there was never a serious possibility of getting Security Council support for military action because influential people in Russia and France were getting paid off by Saddam. After the fall of Baghdad last spring, France and Russia tried to delay the lifting of sanctions against Iraq and continue the Oil for Food program. That's because France and Russia profited from it:
Most disturbing are Iraqi records that suggest Benon Sevan, the executive director of the Oil for Food office, received a voucher for 11.5 million barrels of oil from Saddam's manipulation of the program — enough to yield a profit of between $575,000 and $3.5 million. Possibly, the Iraqis can teach the U.N. on how to keep records?} U.N. OIL PAPERS VANISH
The intent of the program was to sell Iraqi oil to pay for food and medicine for the Iraqi people, who were suffering due to sanctions. Instead, vouchers were doled out as gifts or as payment for goods imported into the country in violation of U.N. sanctions. The recipient would then turn the voucher over to one of a number of firms operating in the United Arab Emirates, in exchange for commissions ranging anywhere from 5 cents to 30 cents per barrel, depending on market conditions. (This translates into a profit of $50,000 on the low end and $300,000 on the high end for every 1 million barrels worth of oil vouchers.)
In the United States, those listed include Iraqi American businessman Shaker Al-Khaffaji, who put up $400,000 to produce a film by ex-U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter, which aimed to discredit weapons inspections in Iraq.
Also, British Labor MP George Galloway, a strident foe of taking action against Saddam, is listed as a recipient or co-recipient of 19.5 million barrels.
Patrick Maugein, CEO of the oil company Soco International and financial backer of French President Jacques Chirac (25 million);
Former French Ambassador to the United Nations Jean-Bernard Merimee (11 million);
Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri (10 million); and
Syrian businessman Farras Mustafa Tlass, the son of longtime Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Tlass (6 million).
Leith Shbeilat,
chairman of the anti-corruption
committee of the Jordanian Parliament, received 15.5 million.
and the list goes on Right now, Claude Hankes-Drielsma, a British investigator, is auditing the program on behalf of the Iraqi government. His findings, and the records reported on in the Iraqi press, deserve serious scrutiny.
If it turns out that prominent politicians and businessmen profiteered while Iraqis were deprived of basic necessities that the Oil for Food program was supposed to pay for, there should be serious consequences, up to and including criminal prosecution.
To rob a broken people is a GRAVE sin.
We've all heard plenty from Amnesty International, the New York and London 'rights' groups on how wrong it was to take Saddam out; surely they all have something to say about this?
There should be an ear-splitting uproar! But so far, that doesn't seem to be the case.
You see, when people stoop low enough to rob from the poor? one can't help but wonder, what else they'd do.
International News
March 20, 2003
With war under way, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan asked the Security Council on Thursday to authorize him to run Iraq's oil-for-food humanitarian aid program, now a joint venture between Baghdad and the United Nations.
While the primary responsibility for caring for Iraq's 26 million people would lie "with the authority exercising effective control in the country" — the United States, in the event of a military victory — the United Nations could play its role in meeting crucial needs [hmm...whose crucial needs?] if the Security Council approved, Annan said in a letter to the council.
He submitted his proposals as the United States and Britain were finishing their own draft resolution, which they planned to circulate to the council's five permanent members as soon as Thursday afternoon, council diplomats said.
Under the existing oil-for-food program, in place since 1996 but suspended this week due to the impending war, Iraq's oil revenues go into a U.N. account out of which President Saddam Hussein's government buys food, medicine and other goods for the general population under U.N. supervision. [Amazing. It really was about the Oil after all]
U.N. to Take Up Oil-for-Food Probe April 20, 2004 NEW YORK — A United Nations Security Council resolution is expected to pass Wednesday that would back an investigation into the troubled Iraqi oil-for-food program. The probe would look into how Saddam Hussein and his allies allegedly siphoned off billions of dollars that were meant for the Iraqi people. The resolution is part of the probe into the allegations of bribes, kickbacks and illegal contracts that cost an estimated $10 billion. The resolution was reportedly a requirement for Paul Volcker, the respected former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, to accept the job of heading up a special U.N. team to investigate the scandal-scarred program. Volcker wanted assurances that the U.N. investigation wouldn't exempt U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's office. Annan's son once worked for a program consultant but denies any wrongdoing. [They all do] Sources say the resolution says that any illicit activity by U.N. officials, personnel and contractors is "unacceptable." and what do they plan to do about it? Looks like a '''U.N. Tribunal''' needs to be set up for.............. the U.N. Last week the Russians said there was no need for a resolution but have since retracted their objection. Critics said the Russians were against it because they made billions off Saddam and do not want the truth to come out. "There are many countries, individuals ... who do not want the truth to come out ... they have cheated the system," Claude Hankes-Drielsma, advisor to Iraq's Governing Council told Fox News, citing Russia and France as two countries that were "significant beneficiaries" of Saddam. A list of people who allegedly got vouchers to sell Iraqi oil included a former Russian ambassador to Baghdad and the former head of the program itself, Benon Sevan. Sevan has denied the allegations and he's now on leave pending his retirement. But experts who have examined the program say only an independent investigation will uncover the truth. "Mr. Benon Sevan's name appears on several records, which I have seen personally in ministries in Baghdad ... and one has to ask, why is that?" said Hankes-Drielsma. "The same applies to the former French ambassador to the U.N. who appears on the list, the son of a Russian ambassador on the list. And I can go on for quite a while." There is at least one 'church' on that list also. Volcker made no comment Tuesday morning, but a resolution Wednesday could be a first step toward a probe. The corruption claims — a major embarrassment for the United Nations — surfaced last January in the Iraqi newspaper Al-Mada, which published a list of about 270 former government officials, activists and journalists from more than 46 countries [who, no doubt....'have money'.... of which, it has already been exposed that some of that money was used in propaganda....to protect 'the money'] suspected of profiting from Iraqi oil sales under the U.N. program.
The U.S. General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative arm, estimated last month that the Iraqi government pocketed $5.7 billion smuggling oil to its neighbors and $4.4 billion extracting illicit surcharges and kickbacks on otherwise legitimate contracts. Annan launched an internal inquiry into the oil-for-food program in February but canceled it to allow an independent examination covering governments and companies that signed contracts with the United Nations or Iraq. Rom 13:9 Thou shalt not steal. ESPECIALLY from the poor! Those who claim to be Christians who marched in defense of Saddam and his crooks, need to take another look at these:
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