NYT, pg 1: Under Eye of U.N., Billions for Hussein in Oil-for-Food Plan

[DeepModem Mom]

(Ms. Miller is back on page one.)


Under Eye of U.N., Billions for Hussein in Oil-for-Food Plan
By SUSAN SACHS and JUDITH MILLER

Published: August 13, 2004


Toward the end of 2000, when Saddam Hussein's skimming from the oil-for-food program for Iraq kicked into high gear, reports spread quickly to the program's supervisors at the United Nations.

Oil industry experts told Security Council members and Secretary General Kofi Annan's staff that Iraq was demanding under-the-table payoffs from its oil buyers. The British mission distributed a background paper to Council members outlining what it called "the systematic abuse of the program" and described how Iraq was shaking down its oil customers and suppliers of goods for kickbacks.

When the report landed in the United Nations' Iraq sanctions committee, the clearinghouse for all contracts with Iraq, it caused only a few ripples of consternation. There was no action, diplomats said, not even a formal meeting on the allegations.

Since the fall of Mr. Hussein, the oil-for-food program has received far more scrutiny than it ever did during its six years of operation. Congress's Government Accountability Office, formerly the General Accounting Office, has estimated that the Iraqi leader siphoned at least $10 billion from the program by illicitly trading in oil and collecting kickbacks from companies that had United Nations approval to do business with Iraq. Multiple investigations now under way in Washington and Iraq and at the United Nations all center on one straightforward question: How did Mr. Hussein amass so much money while under international sanctions? An examination of the program, the largest in the United Nations' history, suggests an equally straightforward answer: The United Nations let him do it.

"Everybody said it was a terrible shame and against international law, but there was really no enthusiasm to tackle it," said Peter van Walsum, a Dutch diplomat who headed the Iraq sanctions committee in 1999 and 2000, recalling the discussions of illegal oil surcharges. "We never had clear decisions on anything. So we just in effect condoned things."...


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/13/international/middleeast/13food.html

[Placebo]

1. Well no one ever said the UN was perfect...

:shrug:

[dutchdemocrat]

2. What do you think

Cheney was doing with Haliburton in Nigeria?

[slojim240]

3. Not much worse than the billions the US has squandered on Halliburton

can we right now account for most of the 87 billiion?

[Paschall]

4. To put the problem into perspective

$10 billion - the sum Saddam allegedly skimmed off the oil-for-food program over a period of six years

$5 billion - monthly cost of the US occupation of Iraq

$2.5 billion - annual cost of containing Saddam prior to George's invasion

[DeepModem Mom]

5. Interesting way of looking at it! n/t

[alcuno]

6. Aren't the documents about this scandal coming from CHALABI?

O'Reilly was railing the other night about the NY Times not covering this story and the response was that they were looking for independent information aside from Chalabi, considering his past. Is Miller using more Chalabi information here?

[mom cat]

7. Looks like Judith is propping up the neo-con agenda as usual.

She is at it again...this time with "oil industry experts"who of course have no hidden agenda.

"Oil industry experts told Security Council members and Secretary General Kofi Annan's staff that Iraq was demanding under-the-table payoffs from its oil buyers. The British mission distributed a background paper to Council members outlining what it called "the systematic abuse of the program" and described how Iraq was shaking down its oil customers and suppliers of goods for kickbacks.

When the report landed in the United Nations' Iraq sanctions committee, the clearinghouse for all contracts with Iraq, it caused only a few ripples of consternation. There was no action, diplomats said, not even a formal meeting on the allegations."

It sounds like the UN knew a crock of bushit when they saw it. Another "British report" ..another obviously neutral source.
Ant the timing? Just after more Helliburton disclosures: 43% of funds unaccounted for. :wtf:

[DeepModem Mom]

8. Good call -- always the TIMING.... n/t