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French authorities are expected to charge a retired U.N. ambassador today in connection with his role in the U.N. oil-for-food program. Jean-Bernard Merimee, who represented Paris at the United Nations from 1991 to 1995, was arrested Monday. He was a senior member of the French diplomatic service, also having served as ambassador to Australia and Italy. From 1999 to 2002, he worked as a special adviser to Secretary-General Kofi Annan, helping create a system to disburse European Commission payments to the United Nations. In New York, the French Mission to the U.N. said it would cooperate with any investigation. "Justice...

NEW YORK — As investigations proliferate into the United Nations Oil-for-Food scandal, one of the more intriguing mysteries involves a former French diplomat with a direct link to the U.N.’s executive suite: Jean-Bernard Merimee (search). The 68-year-old Merimee, one of several individuals now under investigation in France for alleged involvement in Saddam Hussein’s Oil-for-Food scams, is well known for his role in the early 1990s as French ambassador to the United Nations. What investigators have not so far highlighted is that during the period Merimee is alleged to have come into commercial contact with Saddam’s regime, starting in December 2001,...

Inquiry and Analysis Series - No. 160 January 29, 2004 No.160 The Beneficiaries of Saddam's Oil Vouchers: The List of 270 The following report from MEMRI's Baghdad office is a translation of an article which appeared in the Iraqi daily Al-Mada, [1] whichobtained 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. BackgroundThe following points should be taken into consideration:...

The U.S. is engaged in a bloody war in Iraq for the purpose of eliminating the remnants of a terrorist regime, foreign terrorists, and bringing democracy to Iraq and the region. It is a big gamble that has put radical Islam on the defensive around the world. But shocking evidence demonstrates that controversial former U.S. Marine and former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter, who now writes for the anti-American Arab "news" organization Al Jazeera, was involved in a controversial effort to stop the war by enlisting prominent personalities in a "peace" campaign.

Introduction The Iraqi daily Al-Mada ("Horizon") was the first newspaper to publish a list of 270 individuals and organizations that benefited from oil vouchers granted to them by the regime of Saddam Hussein.(1) The intention of the grant was either to allow the recipients to sell the vouchers to intermediaries for a quick profit or to buy the oil themselves at discounted prices. It was assumed that the vouchers would permit their ultimate bearer to purchase Iraqi oil at a sufficiently discounted price as to leave a margin of profit to the voucher beneficiary, the intermediary, the oil company which...

If the name of a "Big Money" Political Party Donor with ties to Enron were discovered on the Saddam's Coalition of the Bribed, what do you think would happen to the Candidate of that party? What if that Candidate of that Party was John Kerry? Newsweek drops a bombshell on the Kerry Campaign: Texas Oil Baron and Big-Time Democrat Donor Oscar Wyatt has received perhaps as much a $22 million dollars in profits through oil allocations bought illicity from Saddam Hussein. From MSNBC: United Nations: Oil-for-Food Fiasco?"Law-enforcement sources say Americans who participated in alleged oil-for-food scams also may face further...

UN inspector 'took £60,000 Iraq bribes' Iraqi oil officials have accused a United Nations inspector of taking almost £60,000 in bribes from Saddam Hussein's regime as his henchmen and foreign business partners siphoned millions from the UN's oil-for-food programme, it was reported yesterday. An inquiry by officials in the State Oil Marketing Organisation - a body which, under Saddam, was a key player in schemes that allegedly diverted billions in oil revenues from the UN-run programme - accused an inspector contracted through the Dutch company Saybolt of falsifying documents in return for bribes, the Wall Street Journal reported. Saybolt was...

The dems and their running dogs in the ultra-left wing media continue to be so silly and irrational about "no connection" between Saddam/Iraq and 9-11/Osama that there has to be more to it. I believe that Clinton was involved in taking Iraqi money to keep us from getting Osama back before 9-11. And, I'd like to do a documentary to prove it.Willie can't have destroyed the paper trail on this crime. Any ivestigation of the connection would have to lead to Willie (and, maybe, some Saudi or French involvement) because the capture of Iraq took place so very quickly.Does anyone...