May 02, 2004

Claim that Baghdad has list of oil-for-food cash bribes

An Iraqi official said today there was a list of cash bribes made by Saddam Hussein's government to journalists, politicians and groups in connection with the US$67 billion ($108.92 billion) UN-run oil-for-food programme.

Jalal Talabani, a Kurdish member of the Iraqi Governing Council, said Iraqi officials combing Saddam's files had not decided whether to release the list as part of a burgeoning scandal over the defunct programme.
[...]
The oil-for-food programme, which began in late 1996 and closed last year, was an exception to 1991 Gulf War sanctions. It allowed Iraq to sell oil and buy civilian goods to ease the impact of the embargoes on ordinary people.

Most of the misdeeds in the programme were reported over the years to a Security Council committee that supervised the plan, particularly the smuggling of oil and surcharges paid to Saddam by oil dealers. But political divisions often blocked action.

What is new since the fall of Saddam's government are the list of alleged bribes to individuals, among them a senior UN official, from the Iraqi government, which campaigned to have the sanctions lifted.

Remember back in 2002, when the bribed world (like the Weasel Powers, Russia and at least one member of the British Parliament named George Galloway) and Iraq were babbling about letting Hans Blix and his UNSCOM in to verify that Saddam had disarmed not to avoid the consequences of a U.S. led force to do so, but so that the sanctions could be lifted?
These bribes fill in the missing piece of that puzzle.
I am convinced that this scandal must and will see the full light of day.
Human Justice demands it, so please Mr. Talabani, share it with the rest of the class...and don't hang around Kofi, whose son is implicated in the scandal, any more than is absolutely necessary!