[Calpernia]

here we go again ping.

[appalachian_dweller]

Thanks for the ping Calpernia. Just back from vacation and I see our friends are still as vocal as ever. Just glad nothing too serious has happened. I get a sense that there's been a whole lot happening behind the scenes that we're not aware off.

BTW - thanks to all of you for the pings. I really appreciate it.

[JustPiper]

I found the story I posted about :

North Korea 'fleeced Saddam'
From correspondents in Washington(CNN)

FEW people hoodwinked Saddam Hussein, but North Korea fleeced the former Iraqi strongman out of $US10 million ($14.63 million), a leading US weapons expert said today.

David Kay, who heads the Iraqi Survey Group (ISG) hunting for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, said Saddam's regime handed over $US10 million ($14.63 million) to North Korea for missile technology that was never delivered.

"The Iraqis actually advanced the North Koreans 10 million dollars. In late 2002, the North Koreans came to the Iraqis as a result of the Iraqis' inquiry: 'Where is the stuff we paid for?'

"The North Koreans said, 'Sorry, there's so much US attention on us that we cannot deliver it'," Kay added.

"The Iraqis said, 'well, we don't like this, but give us our 10 million dollars back'."

When the US-led invasion of Iraq started on March 19, the North Koreans were still refusing to give back the 10 million dollars, Kay said.

"It's a lesson of negotiating with the North Koreans," Kay joked on a telephone conference call with reporters.

He said Saddam had attempted several times to get the money back.

Records found by teams working for Kay's group described a high level dialogue between Iraq and North Korea that began in December of 1999.

The records indicated Iraqi interest in the transfer of technology for surface-to-surface and land-to-sea missiles.

Kay said a contract for the missile technology was concluded, but no technology was ever shipped from the North, which is a member of President George W. Bush's "axis of evil" alongside the former Iraq and Iran.

Now, how do we know NK 'fleeced' Saddam?!