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WASHINGTON - Federal prosecutors say Saddam Hussein's intelligence agency secretly financed a trip to Iraq for three U.S. lawmakers during the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion. An indictment in Detroit accuses Muthanna Al-Hanooti of arranging for three members of Congress to travel to Iraq in October 2002 at the behest of Saddam's regime. Prosecutors say Iraqi intelligence officials paid for the trip through an intermediary. In exchange, Al-Hanooti allegedly received 2 million barrels of Iraqi oil. The lawmakers are not mentioned but the dates correspond to a trip by Democratic Reps. Jim McDermott of Washington, David Bonior of Michigan and...

WASHINGTON - As a senior member of the House ethics committee, Rep. Jim McDermott (news, bio, voting record) had an obligation not to disclose the contents of an illegally taped telephone call involving House Republican leaders, a lawyer for one of the House Republicans said Thursday. Just as a federal judge should not reveal confidential information about a case, McDermott should not have given reporters access to the taped telephone call, regardless of how it was obtained, said lawyer Michael Carvin. "He had a duty not to disclose, therefore he can't claim First Amendment rights" allowing him to make the...

The system allowed individuals and companies to use Iraq's UN-controlled oil-for-food programme to purchase Iraqi oil at concessionary prices and resell it, splitting their huge profits with Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi leader. Under the programme, the Iraqi regime had to sell its oil under international supervision but could choose its own middlemen. Those intermediaries, invariably sympathetic to Saddam and his money, paid for the oil into a United Nations account at prices agreed by Baghdad. That money was in turn used by the UN to buy food, medical supplies and other essential goods for Iraq. The purpose of the system...

FBI agents yesterday raided the suburban Detroit headquarters of LIFE for Relief and Development (LRD), the largest Islamic charity in the country. I first wrote about the group for The Post in 2003. Back then, FBI Director Robert Mueller was set to give an award to Imad Hamad, who heads the Midwest chapter of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). But, after my Post article pointed out that Hamad was a subject in over a dozen terrorism-related investigations, the FBI revoked the award. One of those investigations concerned Hamad's close ties to LRD. Both the FBI and the then-U.S. Customs...

September 18, 2006 BREAKING: Largest U.S. Islamic Charity Raided by FBI Printer Friendly By Debbie Schlussel I've been writing about LIFE for Relief and Development for years, and I think my columns (especially this one), have finally made a difference. Ditto for my complaints about LIFE to Assistant U.S. Attorney for counterterrorism, Ken Chadwell. Less than half an hour ago, the FBI began raiding LIFE and hauling out documents. Well, it's about time. LIFE--the largest Islamic charity still open for business in America--openly admitted on its 1995-'97 taxes to be a major funder of HAMAS. Headquartered in the Orthodox Jewish...

McDermott Files Appeal in Taped Call Case By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press Writer 8 minutes ago Rep. Jim McDermott (news, bio, voting record) on Wednesday asked a full nine-member appeals court to hear an appeal of a case involving an illegally taped telephone call that was leaked to reporters nearly a decade ago. A three-judge appeals court panel ruled last month that McDermott, D-Wash., violated federal law by giving the news media a tape recording of a 1996 call involving then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga. The 2-1 opinion, by judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of...

Italian journalist held hostage in Iraq Claire Cozens and agencies Tuesday August 24, 2004 Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni, who has been missing in Iraq since last week, has been kidnapped by militants, according to a video broadcast today on al-Jazeera television station. His driver was found dead at the weekend in Najaf and today an Islamist group said it had abducted an Italian in Iraq, giving Silvio Berlusconi 48 hours to announce it was pulling his troops out of the country.

The publication yesterday of Paul Volcker's fifth and final report on the U.N.'s Oil for Food program tells us little we didn't know about the broad outlines of the $100 billion scandal. But, oh, are the details ever instructive. The Volcker report confirms that Saddam Hussein demanded, and got, some $1.8 billion in illegal surcharges, kickbacks and bribes from companies doing business in Iraq. It confirms that he steered billions in oil and humanitarian contracts to his politically preferred clients, particularly Russia and France, and smaller sums to agents of influence (or their associates) such as British MP George Galloway,...

To read entire article click text: In a court hearing in San Diego, Kenneth Breen, an assistant United States attorney, said the adviser, Amr Ibrahim Elgindy, tried to sell $300,000 in stock on the afternoon of Sept. 10 and told his broker that the stock market would soon plunge. "Perhaps Mr. Elgindy had preknowledge of Sept. 11, and rather than report it he attempted to profit from it," Mr. Breen said. So, what did Mr. Elgindy, who was trying to sell $300k in stock, tell the financial world the day after 9-11?  Read it for yourself! Immediate release InsideTruth.com...

Since midsummer, the Senate Intelligence Committee has been attempting to solve the biggest mystery of the Iraq war: the disparity between the Bush Administration’s prewar assessment of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and what has actually been discovered. The committee is concentrating on the last ten years’ worth of reports by the C.I.A. Preliminary findings, one intelligence official told me, are disquieting. “The intelligence community made all kinds of errors and handled things sloppily,” he said. The problems range from a lack of quality control to different agencies’ reporting contradictory assessments at the same time. One finding, the official went...

February 1, 2005 -- WASHINGTON — An Iraqi-American businessman under investigation in the U.N. oil-for-food scandal was placed on an honor roll of former regime thugs by Saddam Hussein's demonic son Uday just months before the war, The Post has learned. Detroit-area real-estate developer Shakir al-Khafaji, who received millions of dollars worth of vouchers to buy discount Iraqi crude in the U.N. oil-for-food program, appeared on an "Honor List" of Iraqis considered most valuable to Saddam that was published by the Uday Hussein's newspaper, Babil, in November 2002.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A top aide to firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who appealed to kidnappers to free a Western journalist, said Friday they had promised to release him. The pan-Arab television station Al-Jazeera reported Thursday that a militant group calling itself the Martyrs Brigade had abducted New York journalist Micah Garen and threatened to kill him within 48 hours unless U.S. pulled out of the wear-shattered city of Najaf. Sheik Aws al-Khafaji, a top aide to al-Sadr whose rebel Mahdi army has been fighting coalition forces in Najaf for two weeks, said he had spoken Friday to the kidnappers,...

In a Story today titled : Report: U. S. firmsbought oil from Iraq. Sub titled: Houstonian among those who profited under the U.N. program . We find the name OSCAR WYATT. Others named were Samir Vincent and Shakir AlKhafaji. Here is Wyatts political activities.The time line for the vouchers is 1996 to 2003. No wonder skerry is supporting the U.N. Presented by the Federal Election Commission Individual Contributions Arranged By Type, Giver, Then Recipient Non-Federal Receipts "Exempt From Limits" WYATT, OSCAR S HOUSTON, TX 77046 COASTAL CORP DNC-NON-FEDERAL INDIVIDUAL 11/09/2000 100000.00 20036584308 RNC REPUBLICAN NATIONAL STATE ELECTIONS COMMITTEE 11/07/2000 100000.00...

America involved in Oil for Food Scandal?

From a tangle of recent accusations about Iraqi oil profiteering and international deceit that stretches from Washington's Beltway to Baghdad, one name keeps popping up: Shakir Al-Khafaji, an Iraqi-born metro Detroiter [snip] The West Bloomfield father and Southfield business owner has become entangled in a simmering scandal that now threatens to overtake the United Nations' biggest humanitarian mission, the oil-for-food program. Hearings were held this week in Congress following a congressional report earlier this month that said that much of the money generated by the program was skimmed off before it reached the Iraqi people. [snip] The GAO estimated that...

Congressman Jim McDermott this week returned a $5,000 contribution made to his legal defense fund by an Iraqi-American businessman who has admitted to financial ties with Saddam Hussein's regime. Shakir al-Khafaji, a Detroit-area businessman who had been active in the anti-Iraq-war movement and who accompanied McDermott, D-Seattle, on his highly publicized trip to Iraq in 2002, acknowledged to the Financial Times of London this week that he received lucrative vouchers for Iraqi oil from Saddam's government. The oil-voucher story surfaced in January, when a Baghdad newspaper published what it said was an Iraqi government document naming 270 recipients of oil...

<p>A year ago John Kerry described the nations that would liberate Iraq as a "coalition of the bribed, the coerced, the bought and the extorted." It turns out that may be a better description of his own antiwar camp. From Jacques Chirac's and Vladimir Putin's political cronies to Tony Blair's own Labour Party, many of the most vocal opponents of enforcing U.N. resolutions turn out to have been on the take.</p>

<p>BAGHDAD -- Two U.S. soldiers were killed yesterday while disposing of explosives in northern Iraq, and the military announced the surrender of a former Ba'ath Party leader.</p> <p>The explosion outside of Sinjar near the city of Mosul that killed the two soldiers and injured six appeared to have been an accident and not the result of hostile fire, said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt.</p>

U.S. Holds Another of Iraq's Most Wanted By JOHN J. LUMPKIN, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - American forces in Iraq (news - web sites) have detained one of the remaining most-wanted members of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s government, defense officials said Monday. Muhsin Khadr al-Khafaji, No. 48 on the 55 most-wanted list, was turned over last weekend to U.S. troops in the Baghdad area, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The officials did not say who turned him over. U.S. Central Command described Khadr as the chairman of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party in the Qadisiyah...

Omega Letter Christian Intelligence Digest Who Did Saddam Bribe? List Names Top Officials in France, Russia Terror - Islam Monday, February 09, 2004 MEMRI On January 25, 2004, a daily newspaper in Iraq called al Mada published a list of individuals and organizations who it says received oil from the now-deposed regime. Among those listed is Shakir al Khafaji, an Iraqi-American from Detroit, who ran "Expatriate Conferences" for the regime in Baghdad. Al Khafaji also contributed $400,000 to the production of Scott Ritter's film "In Shifting Sands." Finally, al Khafaji arranged travel and financing for the "Baghdad Democrats"--Jim McDermott, Mike...

Oil Coupons Numbers next to names are in crude oil barrels. Algiers: 1-Abdul Majid Al-Attar/ 6 million 2-Abdul Kadir bin Musa/ 6 million Austria: 1-Hans Kugler/ 3 million 2-Arabian Austrian Association/ 1 million Bahrain: 1-Kadhim Al-Darazi institute/ 2 million 2-Ali Al-Muslim institute/ 3 million 3-Concrete contracting Co./ 2 million Bangladesh: 1-Mawlana Abdul Mannan/ 43.2 million Belarus: 1-Liberal party/ 6 million 2-Belarussian Communist party/ 7 tons 3-Belminal Co./ 14.2 million 4-Belfarm/ 4 million 5-Presidential office secretary/ 6 million 6-Lada Co./ 2 million Brazil: 1-Fuad Sarhan/ 10 million 2-8th of October Movement/ 4.5 million Britain: 1-George Gallaway/Fawaz Rzeiqat/ 19 million 2-Mujahiden-e Khalq/...

In this article, abcnews has Shaker Al-Khafaji's name as Shakir Alkhalaji and removed the dash after the Al. Why?Open Secrets Campaign ContributersIn it, you see that Mr. Al-Khafaji donated to John Kerry. If you put the spelling that abc has, then you don't find this. Here is a more accurate article Iragi Oil for Blood Program

The following report from MEMRI's Baghdad office is a translation of an article which appeared in the Iraqi daily Al-Mada,(1) which obtained lists of 270 companies, organizations, and individuals awarded allocations (vouchers) of crude oil by Saddam Hussein's regime. The beneficiaries reside in 50 countries: 16 Arab, 17 European, 9 Asian, and the rest from sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. Only a portion of the 270 recipients are listed and identified.

Iraqi-born American has funded Democrats By Steve Miller THE WASHINGTON TIMES An Iraqi-born real estate developer in Michigan with ties to Saddam Hussein has donated several thousand dollars to Democratic candidates since 1996 to gain political support to end sanctions on his homeland Shakir al-Khafaji, an American citizen who came to the United States in 1976, has contributed to the campaigns of former U.S. Rep. David Bonior, Rep. John Conyers, Sen. Carl Levin — all Michigan Democrats — and the Clinton/Gore 1996 Primary Committee. The 48-year-old, in an interview with The Washington Times, said he is well-acquainted with Saddam loyalists:...

SCATTERED AMONG the loose papers and bound files unearthed last week at the Iraqi Foreign Ministry in Baghdad was "letter no. 140/4/5," labeled "Confidential and Personal" and addressed to "The President's Office--Secretariat." The letter concerns George Galloway, a pro-Saddam member of the British Parliament, who founded a charity known as the Mariam Appeal, ostensibly to aid Iraqi children suffering under U.N. sanctions. The missive, from the Iraqi Intelligence Service, is a request that money be funneled directly to Galloway. It reads in part: His projects and future plans for the benefit of [Iraq] need financial support to become a motive...

Iraq's intelligence services bought gold jewellery that they planned to give to the wife and daughter of Scott Ritter, the controversial former weapons inspector, as part of a clandestine project to encourage him to work closely with Saddam Hussein's regime, according to documents discovered by The Telegraph in Baghdad. According to the documents, which were found in the bombed headquarters of Iraq's intelligence services, the cost of the presents was approved at the highest level in an attempt to develop "strong relations with them [Mr Ritter's family] that affect positively on our relations with him". The documents say that the...

Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., who famously traveled to Baghdad last fall and pronounced President Bush a liar, accepted a cash payment less than a month later from an Iraqi-American businessman with ties to Saddam Hussein. McDermott collected the payment from Shakir al-Khafaji, the same Detroit-based Baghdad apologist who paid former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter $400,000 two years ago to make a pro-Saddam documentary about Iraq. Appearing live from Baghdad on the Sept. 29 broadcast of ABC's "This Week," McDermott proclaimed, "The president of the United States will lie to the American people in order to get us into...