Discussed by Rush today.
Please excuse me if I bridle my enthusiasm until someone finally gets prosecuted and put in jail. Real jail, not "Martha Stewart" jail.
Follow the Money!
It leads to the Clinton's.
I knew this Food For Oil thing would turn out to have Clinton somehow involved in it.
Ping
What happens when you cross "the biggest scandal in history" with a Clinton crony?
interesting.....takes time for the truth the whole truth too surface....
I figure by the end of this week the slime attacks will start on Mr. Morgenthau.
Someone please tell me why I ought to be surprised by this.
So now we know just who has been funding the 'Toon Legacy Library - Marc Rich, the UN, and yes, Saddumb Hussein.
Thanks, Clinton.
There are many other important bits of information for everyone to look at in this article. A few of them are:
"Investigators say they have received information that Rich and Ben Pollner, a New York-based oil trader who heads Taurus Oil, set up a series of companies in Liechtenstein and other countries that they used to put together deals between Saddam and his international supporters in the controversial oil-voucher scheme — which the dictator designed to win international support against U.S. sanctions at the United Nations.
"Under the scam, hundreds of international political and financial figures from France, Russia and other countries were awarded middleman vouchers allowing them to purchase set quantities of Iraqi oil at discount rates.
"These so-called "non-end users" could then resell the oil on the open market and make profits of up to 50 cents a barrel. Benon Sevan, who headed the U.N. oil-for-food program, is among those listed in Iraqi Oil Ministry documents as having been a recipient of the vouchers.
"Since most of the recipients did not have refineries or cargo ships, they needed to sell the oil to someone else who could ship the oil out of Iraq in order to cash in."
and:
"In an angry confrontation that followed, Pollner told the New York investigators that they had no jurisdiction over oil deals that took place outside the United States and refused to cooperate, an official familiar with the interrogation said.
"Pollner and Rich could not be reached for comment.
"The Rich connection is the latest wrinkle in a rapidly mushrooming scandal that has thrown the United Nations into its gravest crisis and has led to numerous calls for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to step down.
"Rich, who fled the country to Switzerland in 1983 to escape an indictment for racketeering and tax evasion as well as trading oil with Ayatollah Khomeini's Iran, has not set foot inside the United States since his pardon.
"In January 2001, in the final hours his presidency, Clinton bypassed law-enforcement and intelligence agencies to wipe the books clean for Rich after being subjected to intense lobbying from former Israel Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Rich's jet-setting ex-wife, Denise, who donated more than $1 million to Democratic campaigns — including Sen. Hillary Rodham's first Senate race — along with an additional $450,000 to Clinton's library fund."
and:
"An internal U.N. document dated June 1992, released to The Post by the House International Relations Committee, also revealed that U.N. officials were concerned about Rich's involvement in an earlier attempt to launch the oil-for-food program.
"The U.N. document said Rich was involved in a possible "triangular arms-for-oil deal involving Chile, Iraq and South Africa," as well as illegally exporting Iraqi oil through Syria, and expressed concern that his inclusion on a U.N. list of approved oil traders would be "inappropriate" and would open the United Nations up to criticism that "criteria and standards used to select suitable companies are too lax."
"Law-enforcement officials said the primary interest of current grand-jury probes taking place in New York focus on Rich's oil deals with Saddam that took place after his pardon, which could make him fair game for a new round of indictments.
"Some of the deals took place in February 2001 — one month after he received his pardon. "
These last are the most important. I hope Justice is able to get enough on this guy so we can have him fry.
Wouldn't it be just great if some of the dimbulbs in the E.U. could get it through their head that this guy ought to be charged in the International Criminal Court?
Charging him in the US is not going to mean anything since he has not stepped foot in the US since 2001. The ICC could come through and mean something if they got him!
They wrap up the story with:
"Of particular interest to investigators is a series of deals outlined in recently released Iraqi Oil Ministry documents that show allocations of more than 72 million barrels of oil to a French oil trader Patrick Maugein.
"Maugein, an oil trader, is a longtime business associate of Rich and oil-trading firm Trafigura and has also been identified as a close friend of French President Jacques Chirac. A report in October by CIA weapons inspector Charles Duelfer said members of Saddam's regime "considered Maugein a conduit to Chirac."
"Investigators are also looking at Rich's fingerprints on several oil deals involving Russian political figures and businessmen. Rich has longstanding ties in Russia and has done several questionable commodities deals with Russian mafia figures and oligarchs, who seized control of vast Russian financial and natural resources after the collapse of the Soviet Union, sources said.
"Several major American oil companies, including Chevron Texaco and Exxon Mobil, have also received grand-jury subpoenas."
I hope all of those who knowingly circumvented the Iraq sanctions fry.
Most criminals never stop unless incarcerated or killed.
Marc Rich and William Jefferson Criminal are no exceptions.
Well, his pardon doesn't cover stuff that occurred AFTER his pardon, right? So, we can still nail him, and Clinton wasted a Pardon like an idiot.
Bump to the top
Discussed by Rush today.
And Klintoon pardoned him because????????????????????
I hope this bites the clinton's all the way around. I would love to see a full federal investigation.
The Clinton Legacy lives
Wow. Some legacy, Bubba.
Doublewide Willie ping
It's well to remember that even Barak was involved in lobbying for Rich's pardon, supposedly because of the
large amounts of charitable contributions Rich had sent
Israel's way over the years.Guys like Rich are always spreading the money around, buying friends and loyalty. Columbian drug dealers have done the same thing. I suppose a pardon would have freed up Rich to continue his philanthropic ways, assuming that his well had dried up for Israel. The cast of players in this scandal is not pretty. Our investigation will probably slow down when some American names crop up, and slow down some more, and then, sorry to say, amid threats of blackmail and intimidation, stop completely. I'm not expecting ANY form of real justice. I'm not expecting Annan to be forced to resign.I'm not expecting any concern at all from the member nations of the U.N. that they will be evicted. ALL THAT COULD MAKE THIS HAPPEN WOULD BE MASS PROTESTS OUTSIDE THE U.N. , demanding that they find a new place to live, and a new country to bilk.