Posted on 09/07/2002 8:17:18 AM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
Syria is cooperating with U.S. intelligence agencies by supplying information on al Qaeda as part of a deal that allows the terrorist-sponsoring-nation to import 200,000 barrels of Iraqi crude per day, NBC News reported Thursday.
"We supply the United States with any information we have on al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations that we consider terrorist,” Georges Jabbour, a political analyst at Syria's Aleppo University, told the network.
Jabbour is also a former adviser to Syrian President Bashar Assad who "often speaks unofficially for Syria," NBC said.
"This does not mean we agree with the United States on what she considers to be terrorism and terrorists,” he added.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior State department official said "the Syrians have provided (the U.S.) significant operational intelligence.”
Meanwhile Syria gets nearly a quarter of a million barrels of Iraqi oil at $14 per - about half the going rate - in direct violation of a United Nations-imposed embargo, as the Bush administration turns a blind eye.
The deal nets Iraq a $3 billion-a-year bonanza, which, according to a senior U.S. official cited by NBC, is "used as a slush fund for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein."
How about that it's not true?
Slush is in short supply this time of the year in Baghdad. $3 billion of slush would be gone by noon.
B) At $14 a barrel, we should let anybody buy Iraqi oil, because they would be losing their *sses.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.