Annan: US, UK Also Bear Blame in Oil, Food Scandal

Yahoo Reuters ^

[Dominick]

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Thursday the United States and Britain bore part of the blame in the Iraq oil-for-food debacle by allowing unsupervised oil exports that Saddam Hussein exploited.

Annan, addressing a seminar on the United Nations and the media, said most of the money Saddam earned was by oil sold to Jordan and Turkey outside of the $67 billion U.N. program.

Only countries like the United States and Britain had interdiction forces that could have stopped it. But he said they "decided to close their eyes to Turkey and Jordan because they are allies."

[Zeppelin]

Remember, Kofi, whenever you point the finger at someone, there are 3 pointing right back at you.

[mewzilla]

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Thursday the United States and Britain bore part of the blame...

Actually, Annan's absolutely right. For once.

And any American who profited from Oil For Food should be behind bars.

And any American in a position to blow the whistle on it who DIDN'T should be out of a job, if they still have one.

[ken21]

goofy annan's the typical liberal.

he's not responsible for anything, but benefits from others' work.

[TC Rider]

Anyone else getting that little gingerbread man graphic on the mortgage ad to the right of the story? Just WHAT is that gingerbread man DOING in there????

whipping the frosting?

LOL, I had to refresh about 10 times to get him to show up.

[Let's Roll]

Oh, yes, time for the "everyone was doing it" defense.

[Carry_Okie]

Annan: US, UK Also Bear Blame in Oil, Food Scandal

There is no doubt that Clinton had a lot to do with it.

[cjohnson7771]

Bite me Koffi

[bray]

Since the UNron is in a Permanent Vegitative State, can we pull the Feeding Tube???

Pray for W and Our Freedom Marching Troops

[RobRoy]

So the robber is blaming the security guards for letting him slip past? Is that pretty much how I am supposed to be reading this?

[Rockitz]

What an absolute a$$!

[nightdriver]

We're making progress!

Now, at least, ol' Kofi is admitting that there IS a scandal!

[DoughtyOne]

I still say the U.N. flag is just about worthless.
Yes, there is one thing it's still good for.
And just one thing...

[IonImplantGuru]

Backhoe,
You need to see the image in #34! I'm sure you'd come up with a creative use for it!

[backhoe]

Thanks, I'll have a look.

[Flashman_at_the_charge]

Straight out of the No controlling legal authority playbook.

[John Lenin]

[RWR8189]

Maybe he has a point...

Who was president again throughout most of the life of oil for food?

[Tamberlane]

I'll be flamed for this, but bring it on. Facts do matter.

The smuggling in question had nothing to do with the UN OFF Program. In fact, it had nothing to do with the UN at all. The UN staff was never charged with preventing it. That task was given by the Security Council to the so-called Multinational Interception Force in 1991 after the end of Gulf War I. And that force was not administered by the UN; instead the US and UK played key roles.

Most of Saddam's illicit revenue came from these contracts, not via the kickback schemes of Oil-For-Food. Some of it can be blamed on Clinton, but it was not the UN's fault.

[John Lenin]

Some of it can be blamed on Clinton, but it was not the UN's fault.

[Tamberlane]

In fact, these points are even stated in the Yahoo article, for instance here:

CIA weapons inspector Charles Duelfer found that corruption within the U.N. oil-for-food program, such as inflated prices for goods shipped to Iraq, amounted to $1.7 billion. But he said Iraq made most of his money, another $8 billion through kickbacks on oil exports outside of the program.