Posted on 02/17/2004 12:29:49 PM PST by Mr.Atos
United Press International recently reported the discovery of documents from Saddam Hussein's oil ministry that show the Iraqi dictator "used oil to bribe top French officials into opposing the imminent U.S.-led invasion of Iraq."
And according to ABC News, allies of Saddam Hussein profited by pocketing the difference between the price of oil under the U.N.'s "Oil for Food" program and the price of oil on the open market. Some of these allies included "a close political associate and financial backer of French President Jacques Chirac", "Russian political figures" including "the Russian ambassador to Baghdad" and "officials in the office of President Vladimir Putin", "George Galloway, a British member of Parliament", and even some--gasp!--"prominent journalists".
Because the U.N. allowed Saddam Hussein to decide who received contracts under the "Oil for Food" program, he was able to use it as a personal slush fund to pay off his defenders. France and Russia were two of the most stubborn supporters of the Hussein regime, and their friendship was rewarded well: Russian interests got the biggest cut of the loot, while the French came in second. British politician George Galloway, who likes to refer to Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice as "the three witches", personally pulled in nearly $10 million while defending Saddam.
In all, some 270 companies, organizations and individuals in 50 countries profited through the arbitrage of Saddam Hussein's oil, the price of which was fixed below market by the United Nations
Crickets and a Faint Cough Sounds pretty scandalous, right? Kind of makes you wonder why you're not hearing a little more about it.
Meanwhile, scarcely a day passes without news coverage of our apparent intelligence failures in locating Iraqi weapons. Certainly, we must investigate why we haven't found anything yet, because we desperately need to plug the holes in our intelligence network before a foe like al Qaeda gets its hands on some devastating weapon. We'd damn well better fix our intelligence apparatus before a suitcase nuke is set off in Times Square.
But it isn't exactly news that our intelligence is sorely lacking. If I recall correctly, a certain event in the fall of 2001 demonstrated quite vividly the inadequacies of our intelligence systems.
It is news, however, when our so-called allies are caught stabbing us in the back while patting Saddam Hussein on his. But instead, the nightly newscasts prefer to focus on President Bush's service in the National Guard, something that's been investigated thoroughly in two previous election cycles even though nobody has produced one credible shred of evidence showing that the president failed to serve any of his obligations. You'd think Peter, Tom or Dan could take just one night off that non-story to investigate why our former allies sold us out. At least then we'd be hearing something new on the news.
In Business with Saddam Since long before the start of the war, there was plenty of evidence that Saddam Hussein had many beneficiaries in France, Russia and Germany, the three countries that fought hardest to prevent his removal. Our networks just chose not to cover it...
(Excerpt) Read more at brain-terminal.com ...
...Face it: sometimes the interests of other nations are quite different from ours, no matter how much diplomatic hand-shaking and ego-stroking is applied as a lubricant. That's why it's so dangerous to follow politicians who think we should let the rest of the world veto our foreign policy decisions.
The United Nations will not defend you. Nor will the Russians, French or Germans. Only the United States will, and only if we continue to control our own destiny. When you pull the lever next November, keep that in mind.
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