Posted on 10/16/2004 8:10:00 PM PDT by Lando Lincoln
Tucked inside the final report of Charles Duelfer, the chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq, are the makings of a huge scandal that could involve, among many others, the United Nations and at least one of its major bureaucrats, foreign government officials (some of them from countries allied with the United States) and several U.S. companies.
So credible, authoritative and disturbing is this evidence that it begs to be investigated, not only by competent U.N. officials, but by Congress and Attorney General John Ashcroft.
The chief finding of Duelfer’s report, made public on Oct. 6, was that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq had destroyed its illicit weapons stockpiles within months after the Persian Gulf War of 1991 and that its ability to reconstitute these weapons programs had eroded significantly.
But the report also contained a powerful indictment of the U.N. oil-for-food program, which was started in December 1996 with a view to easing the suffering caused by the oil embargo and other economic sanctions imposed on Iraq after the 1991 war. Iraq was allowed to sell oil, except that many of the proceeds were funneled into a special account used to buy food, medicine and other necessities for the Iraqi people.
Plausible allegations of corruption in the oil-for-food program were made earlier this year but Duelfer has provided lurid new details. He found that Hussein had corrupted the program by, among other things, giving oil vouchers to several foreign VIPs for the purpose of winning their support for ending the U.N. economic sanctions. These vouchers could be, and sometimes were, sold for large profits, Duelfer said.
The beneficiaries allegedly included Benon Sevan, the U.N. diplomat who ran the oil-for-food program; officials from at least three U.N. Security Council member nations (Russia, France and China) and several U.S. companies. Duelfer identified several of the foreign countries and officials, but, citing privacy laws, he did not name the suspected U.S. firms, an inconsistency both odd and unfair.
A huge money-laundering scandal is not exactly what the U.N. needs. It is trying to re-enter Iraq with a view to helping run elections there. Its integrity and effectiveness are under constant assault by influential isolationists but also by more responsible critics. It was only in recent years that the U.N. undertook reforms in response to allegations of maladministration. Its financial shortages impose continuing strains on its specialized agencies, many of which perform valuable and even heroic missions.
Last April, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan asked former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, a man of immense integrity and expertise, to investigate these allegations of corruption by the program and its chief. That investigation ought to be completed as soon as possible.
When they return from their recess, the four congressional committees investigating the oil-for-food scandal should broaden their inquiry to learn to what extent U.S. companies were involved in this scandal. Ashcroft or his successor should learn whether any U.S. laws were broken.
It is bad enough that a thug like Saddam Hussein snookered the U.N. as badly as he did for so long and that money that should have gone to suffering people went into the pockets of selfish people.
A failure to get to the bottom of this stinking mess will only compound the corruption and the abuse.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1096037/posts
-"No Blood for Oil"- Kojo & Kofi: Unbelievable U.N. stories.
various FR links | 03-12-04 | The Heavy Equipment Guy
Posted on 03/12/2004 12:56:57 AM PST by backhoe
Note: This thread has been updated.
How did koko get to work in his dad's operation? Aint that like nepotism?
O.K. Somebody needs to buy a vowel...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1240255/posts?page=102#102
It is bad enough that a thug like Saddam Hussein snookered the U.N....
Sheesh, Saddam did not snooker the U.N., the U.N. willingly accepted bribes to look the other way.
too...late.. to read..(yawn) must save...`til tomorrow
Oil for food scandal:
Bush can't talk about it because he still has to work with
the dirty Euro perpetrator/leaders and Kerry won't because
it queers his whole argument regarding going to war against
Saddam.
These people enabled/enriched/empowered our most debased enemy. . .including our terrorist enemies.
These people, propagansized against America and against the war; so as to keep their billion-dollar 'money-line open'.
'Knowing now - what we did not know then' - should make it perfectly clear to any and all; that 'War WAS the only answer'.
Feel free to borrow my graphic:
Click this picture & goto "last" for the latest:
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