Posted on 05/18/2006 5:37:16 PM PDT by wjersey
The US Senate is looking into allegations that a former US senator urged Baghdad to give a US company lucrative contracts under the much-criticised United Nations oil-for-food programme.
This is the first time that a leading US lawmaker has been linked to the controversial UN programme, whose shortcomings have been an important element of the Bush administration's critique of the UN.
The investigation involves one of the most vivid figures in US east coast politics, former senator Robert Torricelli, a New Jersey Democrat who was forced to pull out of the 2002 election after being "severely admonished" by the Senate ethics committee for accepting expensive gifts from David Chang, a campaign contributor. Mr Chang, a Korean-American businessman, was found guilty in 2002 of conspiring to violate federal campaign laws and was jailed for 15 months.
Senator Norm Coleman, the Republican chairman of the US Senate permanent sub-committee on investigations, said: "We take these allegations seriously and will continue to investigate in a bipartisan manner allegations of wrongdoing under the oil-for-food programme. We have investigated the illicit conduct of politicians in Russia, France, and the UK. We have a similar interest in preserving the institutional integrity of the US Senate, so we take these allegations regarding former Senator Torricelli seriously and will continue our investigation into them and will refer our findings to the appropriate agencies." The British, French and Russian politicians investigated by the subcommittee deny the allegations.
The allegations are based on Iraqi documents, including diplomatic cables, retrieved after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraq's former president.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Burn the Torch!!
Oh here we go again thank god he is a Dimwitcrat!
The "TORCH" is about to be extinguished.....again!
No they won't, not as it relates to Toricelli. He "retired" as requested and won't be bothered further.
Yes, but did Torricelli and George Galloway exchange bodily fluids?
Where there is one rat there are more. Perhaps we are about to fully understand the Democrat love affair with Saddam.
Wow there is blast from the criminal past. The Torch. Hey didn't he sleeze in another rat senator from NJ?
I am shocked,simply shocked------NOT
What was Pelosi saying about the "Culture of Corruption"? Perhaps the chickens are coming home to roost.
LOL! Torch is a alot of fun isn't he?
Let's also take this occasion to go down Memory Lane with Toricelli- a man who had as much to do with emasculating the CIA as Frank Church.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/9/17/162056.shtml
Culture Of Treason!
Ding! ding! ding! We have a winner!
Yah, too bad... [snicker!]
Hah.
he's used to getting gifts. he loved the gifts from the chinese
Once again, The Torch got burned.
If he gets indicted, will he have Frank Lautenburg replace him as the defendant?
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