Posted on 03/01/2004 1:47:39 PM PST by bukkdems
Follow the money. Saddam not only manipulated foreign supporters with profitable oil vouchers, he also skimmed off an average of 10% commision on every product delivered to Iraq through the Oil for Food Program. Much of the stuff was unuseable junk. UN inspectors winked.
I beg your pardon...
April 23, 2003 - KICKBACKS from Iraqs oil sales have run into billions of dollars because of loopholes in the United Nations Oil-for-Food system designed to feed the Iraqi people.
Saddam Skimmed the UN: How the Oil-for-Food program financed Saddam's palaces
November 3, 2002 - A complaint filed with the United Nations details how Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime set up kickback deals on barrels of oil that he sold and bypassed the strict sanctions imposed on his regime after the gulf war...For years it had been an open secret that Saddam was plundering the Oil for Food program -- netting a huge cash windfall that the CIA believes the Iraqi dictator has used to finance his weapons programs.
Complaint Details Deal Set Up by Saddam's Son to Skim Profits from 'Oil for Food'
March 7, 2001 - Iraqi officials have begun to demand in recent months kickbacks and illegal commissions on contracts for food, medicine and other essential civilian goods bought from foreign companies under a supervised "oil for food" program, diplomats and United Nations officials said today.
FYI...the NYT reported on this last year:
Oil, Food and a Whole Lot of Questions New York Times - April 18, 2003
Oh, and by the way...this is not the first time the story has been called a "blockbuster":
Feb 2003 - My [wife] caught a report by Fox News Channel's Eric Shawn about the U.N. oil-for-food program. This hasn't been picked up anywhere, but it will come as a blockbuster revelation for anyone wondering why the French, Germans and Russians stood in the way of liberating Iraq.
Kofi Annan's Oil-For-Food Corruption/Oil, Food and a Whole Lot of Questions
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