Facts on Who Benefits From Keeping Saddam Hussein In Power

Heritage Foundation | February 28, 2003 | Heritage Foundation

[mabelkitty]

Under Clinton/Gore, it was huge.

Wonder where that money went.

[Bob J]

On a serious note, with all the rallies going on, this information could be valuable to organizers and media representatives.

[Darksheare]

Russian_Vanya signed up 2003-03-27.

Nice to know we've got someone's attention.

[CanadaRob]

. France's largest oil company, Total Fina Elf:

The Family of the Canadian Prime Minister is one of the biggest share holders in this Company

[mabelkitty]

Oil for food my a$$.

Look at the Shi-ites. Tell me when was the last time they ate? They subsist on one cup of broth a day, I'm sure.

Why is leukemia so high among Iraqi children? What did the UN do about it?

Shame on UN!! Shame, Shame, Shame!!

[Darksheare]

tebya ne ebut, ti ne podmakhivai

[Bob J]

I didn't know that...

[iconoclast]

And who will be in the "Catbird Seat" when Iraq is "freed"?

[TLBSHOW]

Looking ahead toward the future, there is indeed a very important role for the United Nations in the humanitarian efforts and the reconstruction efforts that lie ahead. That is, indeed, important.



Q Ari,

snip

so what role the United Nations will play in this war?

MR. FLEISCHER: Okay, it's not my role to speak for the other nations in the region, Muslim or otherwise. They are sovereign; they speak for themselves. In terms of the role of the United Nations, I think that's an issue that's broken into two parts. Regrettably, the United States was not able to enforce its resolutions requiring Saddam Hussein to disarm. And as a result of the importance of the United Nations and the importance of the resolutions they passed calling for disarmament, force has been used to make certain that those resolutions are meaningful.

The President is disappointed that the United Nations Security Council failed to act to keep the peace.





The United Nations has fulfilled that role in all corners around the world with ability in the past, and the President will look to them to do that again in the future. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030320-3.html#20

[bribriagain]

"tebya ne ebut, ti ne podmakhivai"

I couldn't have said it better. That said, I have no idea what you said.

[Carry_Okie]

Because that is the only mechanism currently in place to turn Iragi oil profits into humanitarian assistance from other counties and offset the US burden...during the war.

Good grief! Don't you think the President can find an American oil concern interested in handling the sales and turning the money over to a bank account in the US? At least that way the transactions are guaranteed to be in dollars. Did you know that before the war the oil-for-food programme was conducted in euros?

How many NGOs are out there who will distribute the aid for a direct contract? Care? Oxfam? Save the Children? WorldVision? I'd bet they'd be more efficient too.

As I said, once the war is over (30 days?) the first thing Bush will do is ask that the UN lift it's embargo.

And who pray tell enforces that embargo and why do we need UN permission?

At that point, the Oil for Food program goes bye bye.

I don't see the need for it now.

The US will be in charge, all previous contracts will be null and void, and France, Germany and Russia can go cry in their milk.

That is now harder to envision.

[k2blader]

Bump!

[Darksheare]

Explained in Freep mail.

[Bonaparte]

"I think if USA declare war to just Russia and China, it will be USA end. It will be quick nuclear war."

Russia's strategic nuclear capability has been deteriorating in relation to ours. Despite several years of renewed Russian emphasis on their strategic nuclear arsenal, they have been unable to realize their goals. That's because it's extremely expensive to maintain a strategic nuclear arsenal. I personally doubt Russia is currently capable of maintaining more than 1500 multiple-warhead ICBMs, including their sub-based missiles. All the rest are surely past expiration by now. As Russia's economy continues to spiral downward and as Russia's conventional forces continue to deteriorate due to underfunding, low morale, corruption and lack of discipline, the problem will only become worse.

Russians are just as poor today as they were under the Soviet regime. Their military is even weaker.

At this point in time, China's strategic nuclear capability isn't even worth commenting on, although this could change dramatically in the next 5-10 years.

Meanwhile, we continue to develop SDI and, under George Bush, our military establishment, including our strategic nuclear arsenal, is getting everything it needs, not only to maintain readiness but to advance. Russia would be insane to attack us.

[Carry_Okie]

BLAIR?

That is what my first post alluded, but the causitive agent is more likely to be Blair's own Labour Party, most of which is dedicated to bringing Britain under the yoke of Brussels. In that respect we see, once again, the fine hand of Franco-Prussian skullduggery. Those monsters are dedicated to binging the United States under the heel of UN Global Governance. Why should President Bush prefer an option that seems to abet that outcome?

[TLBSHOW]

Of course you do know Blair is a socialist.

[Tailgunner Joe]

bttt

[TLBSHOW]

from Blairs own mouth about the UN.......

QUESTION:

I wonder if I could ask you a bit about the politics of all this, because you have told us you want to secure not just the UN resolution on Oil for Food, which I think everyone is agreed will go through, but a UN resolution on the political structure of Iraq after any conflict.

Now the French, the Germans, the Russians have all said that they oppose that plan as you have suggested, that they want a UN mandate, they don't just want UN involvement, and we also of course have a situation in northern Iraq and the position of the Kurds. So how are you going to build a political framework? And secondly can you guarantee that the people in northern Iraq will have the same degree of autonomy that they currently enjoy in any post-war settlement?

PRIME MINISTER:

Just on the latter point, obviously one of the extraordinary things that has happened in Iraq over the past few years, only as a result of the British and American pilots policing the No Fly Zone, is that the autonomy people have gained in northern Iraq has allowed them to live a far better life. For example the child mortality rates I was explaining to you, I specifically said were in the centre and south of Iraq, because in the north of Iraq child mortality has been falling, and has been falling because they have got greater freedom from Saddam. So without going into the details of what any post-Saddam Iraq might look like at the present time, we would obviously not want to give up the considerable gains that people in the north have made.

Secondly in relation to the UN, there are two issues here. The first is in respect of humanitarian assistance we need a resolution through on that and I am confident that we should be able to secure that.


There is going to be a debate about the UN resolution that then governs the post-Saddam civil administration in Iraq. We are quite clear that any such administration has to be endorsed by the United Nations, it is important, and that is exactly what we said at the summit in the Azores. Now the details of that we will discuss with allies within the UN and with others.

There may be certain diplomatic difficulties but I think in the end people will come together and realise that it is important that any post-Saddam Iraqi government has the broadest possible representation, is respectful of human rights, is careful to preserve the territorial integrity of Iraq, and the important thing after all the diplomatic divisions that there have been is that the international community comes back together, and I hope that it will.http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page3347.asp

[TLBSHOW]

PhiKapMom
direct from Blair.........


http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page3347.asp

At his latest press conference, Prime Minister Tony Blair said:

'...in addition to pursuing our military campaign with vigour and determination, we are also determined in the wake of military success to bring humanitarian relief to the people of Iraq. The most important humanitarian priority is to restore the operations of the Oil for Food Programme.'

The UN's Oil for Food programme provides over 60 per cent of Iraqis with food, water and medicine, added Mr Blair.

The Prime Minister announced that he would meet President Bush at Camp David, 'to discuss not just the military campaign, but also the diplomatic implications of recent events for the future', and that he would meet UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York.

He stressed that 'the United Nations must be centrally involved in dealing both with the humanitarian crisis and in helping Iraq rebuild itself once Saddam has gone'.

[Carry_Okie]

Yeah, that'll do to handle BobJ's argument. If we let those UN crooks in now, it'll be hell getting rid of them later. If the UN bureaucrats get their way they'll have the Shias, Arab Sunnis, and Kurds in Iraq at eachother's throats forever. See: Korea, Vietnam, Rwanda...

Blair: There is going to be a debate about the UN resolution that then governs the post-Saddam civil administration in Iraq. We are quite clear that any such administration has to be endorsed by the United Nations, it is important, and that is exactly what we said at the summit in the Azores.

It's just a might frustrating to see delays due to UN politcs waste American lives and treasure and then end up serving the interest of Gobble Grubbamint. We should just ignore the UN and do this ourselves.