The Beneficiaries of Saddam's Oil Vouchers: The List of 270

The Beneficiaries of Saddam's Oil Vouchers ^

[rotstan]

The following report from MEMRI's Baghdad office is a translation of an article which appeared in the Iraqi daily Al-Mada,(1) which obtained 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.

[cyncooper]

Thanks for the flag and will do.

[William McKinley]

I think you have some misplaced hostility. I have no animous to the German people. I've been to Germany several times and speak the language, albeit poorly.

Your government's actions in the prelude to the Iraq war were strange, and your Chancellor's embrace of anti-Americanism for his re-election campaign were things Americans won't forget about your government.

As for Rummy shaking hands with Saddam, yes, we conducted diplomacy with Iraq in the past. At times we shared a common foe-- if you remember Iran took many Americans hostage when they had their revolution and were openly trying to cause and continue an energy crisis in the United States. Diplomacy sometimes causes government officials to end up shaking hands with tyrants. If I recall correctly, Robert Mugabe got some rather splendid treatment from the leaders of the E.U. recently. It goes with the territory.

[cookcounty]

"Great Britain: George Galloway received 1 million barrels."was bribed. The BBC got this story wrong, too!

[VaBthang4]

Against Iraq, Congress only endorsed US military action, by a very narrow margin.
REP. TOM CAMPBELL, (R) California: We are at war, and Congress has not declared that, and it's unconstitutional.

[optimistically_conservative]

What, the rest are being blackmailed?

They're Democrats on the intelligence committee and State Dept. personnel. They're being dealt with quietly. McDermott?

[Moose4]

OK...I'm not going to call BS on this, because we know that Saddam was bribing and paying off people left, right, and center. And we know that at least some members of the Axis of Weasels were involved.

But these numbers are frickin' HUGH. If they're right about Russia getting (contracts for? futures? vouchers? IOUs? Shell credit cards?) 1.36 BILLION gallons of oil, folks, that's between $30 and $40 billion on the open market. That is multiple years' worth of production from any of the world's biggest oil producers, Iraq included.

What's the quid pro quo here? Saddam, greedy bastard that he was, wasn't going to just give Pootie Poot $30 bil to throw a spanner in GWB's war plans. One has to wonder what else Saddam got.

Or maybe this really is BS. Further investigation is obviously needed. But these numbers are so utterly gigantic that I've got to be skeptical until more information comes out.

}:-)4

[Moose4]

Doh. Replace "gallons" with "barrels" in my #106.

}:-)4

[cookcounty]

" And he (Galloway) screamed like a stuck pig when accused last year!

On the same day that Blair is exonerated and David Kay smacks down the Senate Dems! What a day!

[Hun in the sun]

Ok, kein Problem

When judging on our point of view,
you shouldn`t forget that we have been
taught what WAR means.

No question, I`m ashamed what has happened
in the name of my country.
NO Question

But as a result, you should accept that we
question every kind of war.

Self defence > Ok
War > Never again, at least from our soil

My regards,
Hun

[VaBthang4]

I sent it out to some Conservative writers as well as Brit Hume and Rush.

[Howlin]

It's been a good one, hasn't it?

[cyncooper]

The food from that program was in military barracks and palaces. Our embedded reporters showed it stashed there on tv when we went in.

But oh, we should have let the UN keep up the good work! Saved some lives, as Hillary would have it.

[cookcounty]

"At the time many people were not convinced this was an amateur undertaking ~ they suggested that the recording was made by a foreign intelligence service engaged in various espionage activities in South Florida."

Probably not, but it is definitely wierd, and worth speculating a bit.

[cyncooper]

Remember us parsing it right off the bat way back when? It is so clumsily worded.

[William McKinley]

It is sad that this was the lesson your country learned from the past.

You see, it is exactly that mindset which gripped England and France and the rest of Europe as Hitler gained power and became more and more aggressive. All other nations thought of the horrors of WWI and thought, "no war, not again, not now, not ever". Every step of the way, where action was called for to prevent a tragedy, nations shied from doing what needed to be done.

Blindly adhering to a pacifist mindset will not prevent the rise of another Hitler in the world. It only means that when one comes, he'll find no one standing in his way until he is well on his way.

The next Hitler will probably not be German. But if reflexive pacifism and appeasement is the reaction of the German society, then Germany may end up playing the role in the next European war that Poland played in the last one.

[muawiyah]

Hey, was that the date? Now I know where two of my Great Great Grandfather's were on that day!

Wow!

Thanks guy!

[cookcounty]

"AL-KHAFAJI, AMIR MCLEAN,VA 22101 WORLD BANK/ECONOMIST
3/31/2003 $1,000 Kerry, John

Note the sequence: Kerry votes for War
then he gets Saddam's blood money,
then he flips and starts attacking the war...!

[cookcounty]

Ritter on Saddam's payroll!

"Shakir Al-Khafaji accompanied Bonior and McDermott to Baghdad. He is also the person who gave Scott Ritter at least $400,000 to make a documentary."

[Orion78]

PING!

[cyncooper]

Shaker Al-Khafaji, the pro-Saddam chairman of the 17th conference of Iraqi expatriates, received 1 million barrels.

You know who he is?

Scott Ritter in Pro-Iraq Movie Deal

EXCERPT:

Saddam's one-time nemesis managed to secure the unprecedented access through the help of Shakir al-Khafaji, an Iraqi-American real estate

Ritter confessed that al-Khafaji, who accompanied him to Iraq, is "openly sympathetic with the regime in Baghdad." The well-connected businessman was apparently instrumental in getting him interviews with top Iraqi officials.

Yes, I came across a News Max article in my Google, but the name can be found in many articles about Ritter's movie. In the interest of time, I grabbed the first article I found. I recognized the name.