Saddam's $2m offer to WMD inspector

UK Telegraph ^ | 3/12/2005 | Francis Harris

[Stars&StripesNE]

Saddam's $2m offer to WMD inspector By Francis Harris in Washington (Filed: 12/03/2005)

Saddam Hussein's regime offered a $2 million (£1.4 million) bribe to the United Nations' chief weapons inspector to doctor his reports on the search for weapons of mass destruction

[infoguy]

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This should be a HUGE story!!

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[alnick]

So why -- why?? -- would he have done that IF THERE WERE NO WMD TO BEGIN WITH???!!??

[alnick]

My question is, why would saddamn pay two mill to get a clean bill of health for weapons he didn't have?

And I'll bet not one MSM reporter will go there.

[piasa]

From a thread you posted:

Exclusive: MP Galloway's Saddam link held in Amman
Gulf News (United Arab Emirates) ^ | April 23, 2003 | Mustapha Karkouti

A Jordanian business man, Fawaz Zureikat, whose name was revealed yesterday as an allegedly business intermediary between Labour member of Parliament George Galloway and Saddam Hussain's regime, has been detained in Amman.

George Galloway MP, a familiar face to Arab public, is at the top of the news once again, but this time as having been, allegedly, on the pay-roll of Saddam Hussain's regime, at least since 2000.

The allegations, claimed to have been uncovered in "secret documents" found by a reporter in two charred boxes at the first floor of the looted foreign ministry in Baghdad are many and they include that Galloway took a cut of oil money worth at least £375,000 a year.

Other allegations claimed that Galloway recommended a Jordanian businessman, Fawaz Zureikat, as "his representative", or intermediary, to deal on his behalf with the Iraqi authority. All these claims have been fiercely denied by Galloway.

But Gulf News can reveal that Zureikat (45), former station manager of Arab Television, a new English-language satellite channel with offices in London and formerly in Baghdad, was detained last month in Amman for unknown reasons.

ATV went on air for less than two weeks before it seized broadcasting in March as a result of Zureikat arrest.

According to Amnesty, Zureikat was detained on March 3. He is being held, AI says, without charge at the headquarters of General Intelligence Department in Amman. Amnesty considers him to be "a possible prisoner of conscience, detained solely for the peaceful expression of his political beliefs."

In a brief issued last month, AI said on 3 March security officers arrested Zurayqat at his office in Amman and seized computers, documents and compact discs. He was taken to the General Intelligence Department, where he is still being held.

"He has been denied access to a lawyer, but his brother has been able to visit him twice," AI said.

Zurayqat is a leading member of the National Mobilisation Committee for the Defence of Iraq, a non-governmental organisation which campaigns against the sanctions and war on Iraq and supported by Galloway.

The main claims against galloway, published in The Daily Telegraph, say the Iraqi intelligence chief, whose signature was "illegible", wrote a memorandum stating that the MP had told a spy: "He ( Galloway) needs continuous financial support from Iraq.

"He obtained through Tariq Aziz (Iraq's deputy prime minister) three million barrels of oil every six months, according to the oil for food programme. His share would be only between 10 and 15 cents per barrel."

On Galloway's links with the Jordanian business man, the alleged document says Zureikat told Iraqi intelligence that the "Mariam Appeal," which was founded by Galloway to campaign for a lifting of the Iraqi trade embargo and against war, put his future as a British MP in doubt.

[cyncooper]

Excellent posting of a "dot" in the big picture.

[woofie]

Why do this if there are no WMDs?

[Fedora]

Thanks; interesting theory on the Hitchens quote.

[Fedora]

A Jordanian business man, Fawaz Zureikat, whose name was revealed yesterday as an allegedly business intermediary between Labour member of Parliament George Galloway and Saddam Hussain's regime

Hmmm, another Jordanian connection--if Zureikat was an intermediary to the British left, was he also an intermediary to the CIA station in Jordan where David Manners was?

[HangThemHigh]

Let me play devil's advocate and propose a reason for attempting to bribe the inspectors.

Early in the Iraq war I suspected Saddam was running a bluff and had destroyed (or shipped to Syria, etc.) his WMD. We know he used to have them, he's threatening to use them on our troops, he wouldn't let inspectors in. In his mind he thinks this behavior will deter the spineless Americans and at the same time he doesn't have to worry about anyone in his own country using this stuff against him.

The bribes are just one more step in this half baked scheme. He offers bribes all around, knowing some will take them, but with the expectation that at least a few will report the effort. An excellent subterfuge if that was the purpose. It not only furthers his bluff, but when it leaks, it throws the whole UN weapons inspection effort into chaos.

Saddam never thought Bush would call his bluff and I think he was planning to let inspectors back in the country at some point as a ploy to get the embargo lifted.

Just a theory. Was Saddam clever enough to plan such a scheme? He obviously wasn't clever enough to correctly judge the resolve of President Bush and true Americans. It is interesting to note he may have overestimated the UN, they took the bribes and said nothing, at least in time to do Saddam any good.

[thoughtomator]

The other thread was pulled so I'll repost my comment here:

Why would he do such a thing if he didn't have WMDs?

Obviously the attempt is an admission of guilt. Now let's dig them out of the holes in Syria and Lebanon where he shipped them before the war.

[Waco]

Go figure: The MSM, inner circles, et al have known this all along. None spoke up. Allowing the pols etc. to bash Bush over "no WND". Doesn't this ammount to a conspiracy to undermine the C.I.C. It's also treasonous in my opinion.

[MikeA]

This won't get reported in the US media. They'd only report anything by a former UN Inspector head who said something contradicting the US position on WMD. Rolf Ekeus won't get a single line or single second of coverage in the US print or television news media. But if jacka** Mr. Magoo Hans Blix pipes up with his latest parroting of Eurotrash anti-Americanism on Iraq and WMD, he gets headlines in the US from the leftist lapdog media.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

There is a thread today about Blix making some comments around here somewhere...

I'll look for it tomorrow.

Good night all!

[nopardons]

That was my first thought too.

[nopardons]

bttt

[nopardons]

bttt

[T. Buzzard Trueblood]

Nile Gardiner, of the Heritage Foundation in Washington, who has followed the inquiries, said: "It's the tip of the iceberg of what the Iraqis were offering. For every official like Ekeus who turned down a bribe, there are many more who will have been tempted by it."

The truth will out.

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

"$2 million? I'm surprised the UN could be bought off so cheap."

Considering that Saddam was trying to 'maintain his innocence' while the UN was already prostituted...Let's not overlook the idea that the UN could have had Jeff Gannon post something at FreeRepublic, if Saddam didn't cooperate with FUTURE payoffs....


/sarc OFF

[Caipirabob]

Bush's fault?

[Torie]

Why would the guy do that since he didn't have any WMD?