Posted on 05/19/2006 4:58:59 AM PDT by IrishMike
The US Senate is looking into allegations that a former US senator urged Baghdad to give a US company lucrative contracts under the much-criticised United Nations oil-for-food programme.
This is the first time that a leading US lawmaker has been linked to the controversial UN programme, whose shortcomings have been an important element of the Bush administration's critique of the UN.
The investigation involves one of the most vivid figures in US east coast politics, former senator Robert Torricelli, a New Jersey Democrat who was forced to pull out of the 2002 election after being "severely admonished" by the Senate ethics committee for accepting expensive gifts from David Chang, a campaign contributor. Mr Chang, a Korean-American businessman, was found guilty in 2002 of conspiring to violate federal campaign laws and was jailed for 15 months.
Senator Norm Coleman, the Republican chairman of the US Senate permanent sub-committee on investigations, said: "We take these allegations seriously and will continue to investigate in a bipartisan manner allegations of wrongdoing under the oil-for-food programme. We have investigated the illicit conduct of politicians in Russia, France, and the UK. We have a similar interest in preserving the institutional integrity of the US Senate, so we take these allegations regarding former Senator Torricelli seriously and will continue our investigation into them and will refer our findings to the appropriate agencies." The British, French and Russian politicians investigated by the subcommittee deny the allegations.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Culture of corruption!
Culture of corruption!
Culture of corruption!
Culture of corruption!
Culture of corruption!
Culture of corruption!
Culture of corruption!
Culture of corruption!
Culture of corruption!
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well, you get the point.
Can you help with an answer to a post I received from subterfuge ?
Whatever happened to Courter?
To: IrishMike
From the article:
The allegations are based on Iraqi documents, including diplomatic cables, retrieved after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraq's former president. The Financial Times and Il Sole 24 Ore, the Italian business daily, have obtained copies of some of the Iraqi diplomatic cables. A source also described the contents of some of the other Iraqi documents.
The Iraqi documents also involve a former Republican congressman, James Courter, who allegedly met with Iraqi officials on behalf of Bright and Bright, Mr Chang's trading and lobbying company.
According to the documents, Mr Torricelli, nicknamed "the Torch" for his incendiary political style, had a series of meetings in the late 1990s, when he was a congressman, with Nizar Hamdoun, then the Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations. During these meetings, Mr Torricelli allegedly urged the Iraqi authorities to help Mr Chang and Bright and Bright get oil-for-food contracts on good terms.
Whatever happened to Courter?
17 posted on 05/19/2006 6:04:42 AM PDT by subterfuge (Call me a Jingoist, I don't care...)
Ouch !
It does not seem right that Al Gore could not remember anything while Maria Hsia ended up with several felony counts and conviction. Go figure.
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