Posted on 10/06/2004 5:22:39 PM PDT by jpw01
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The Central Intelligence Agency (news - web sites) on Wednesday released a list of firms and people from dozens of countries allegedly given oil vouchers by Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s government that could be turned into cash.
The charts, compiled from 13 secret lists by Iraq (news - web sites)'s former vice president and oil minister, enumerates legitimate contracts to oil companies. But it is also a veritable who's who of political groups and individuals from whom the former Iraqi government wanted to buy influence while under U.N. sanctions.
The list was issued as part of a report on Iraq's unconventional weapons by CIA (news - web sites) advisor Charles Duelfer, a former U.N. inspector in Iraq. But Duelfer did not say whether anyone had tried to verify the names on the list.
Among the alleged recipients of oil vouchers were Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua, Russian ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his Liberal Democratic Party, the Russian presidential office, the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Ukraine Community Party, the Ukraine Socialist Party, the son of Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and the Peoples Liberation Front of Palestine. There are also many others.
The only U.N. official on the list is Benon Sevan, the head of the humanitarian program for Iraq, who has been accused previously of receiving an oil voucher and has denied it several times. He is list as a Mr. Sifan, a U.N. official.
The United Nations (news - web sites) has given its documents to Paul Volcker, former head of the Federal Reserve (news - web sites) for an independent probe.
"We are not going to comment on any specific allegation against Mr. Sevan or anyone else," said U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard. "This is in the hands of Paul Volcker. We are cooperating with him fully. Benon Sevan is cooperating with him fully, and we will wait for Volcker's judgment."
All names of Americans and British companies and individuals, whether suspected of wrongdoing or not, were deleted from the list, part of which had been published by an Iraqi newspaper in Baghdad after the war in March 2003.
Iraq was under a sweeping U.N. trade embargo in August 1990 after it invaded Kuwait. The sanctions were tightened after the 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites) and not lifted until last year.
At the end of 1996, the United Nations and Iraq began the oil-for-food program that allowed Baghdad to buy civilian goods and sell oil to pay for them under U.N. monitoring. But since 1990, Iraq, with the knowledge of the United States and Britain, freely shipped oil by truck to Jordan and Turkey, before and during the U.N. program.
Deals with governments generated over $7.5 billion for Saddam from the early 1990s until the start of the 2003 war, the report said.
Iraq earned an additional $2 billion from kickbacks or surcharges associated with the oil-for-food program, $990 million from oil "cash sales" or smuggling, and $230 million from other surcharge imposition, the report said.
Companies in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen helped Saddam acquire prohibited items through deceptive trade practices, the report added.
"Saddam personally approved and removed all names of voucher recipients. He made all modifications to the list, adding or deleting names at will," the report said.
Oil companies were forced to pay surcharges, which by late 2,000 amounted to 25 to 50 cents per barrel.
But Russia blocked U.N. efforts to force oil buyers not to pay it. Britain, followed by the United States, later forced the United Nations to set oil prices retroactively to cut the surcharge.
U.S. oil companies purchased Iraqi crude from middlemen rather than directly from Baghdad. By early 2003, the United States was consuming 67 percent of Iraqi crude, by far the largest buyer. (Bernie Woodall contributed to this report)
Yep, same Scott Ritter.
To tell the truth, Pasqua is no friend of Chirac, and is not a leader in any way...
True, but it probably means that there were both Democrats and Republicans involved.
Well, that could explain a lot- what was the connection?
I wonder if Falcon Trading Group ever did any business in aluminum tubes or depeleted fuel rods.
Nevermind, I remember now. The delegation of Iraqi clerics that visited the US met with Carter.
From MEMRI:
Samir Vincent : received 10.5 million barrels. In 2000, Vincent, an Iraqi-born American citizen who has lived in the U.S. since 1958, organized a delegation of Iraqi religious leaders to visit the U.S. and meet with former president Jimmy Carter..
You'd better beleive this investigation will be shut down if Kerry somehow manages to get elected.
Thanks for the ping Piasa.
I am still hoping that eventually there will be a master, easy-to-follow list of Countries, and under each country the names of the slimebuckets and "groups" on the take
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1068203/posts
Covers listed names
Right here
"All names of Americans and British companies and individuals were deleted from the list"
Uhhhhh..............
No kidding.
I guess it's nice to have friends in high places.
GIVE US THE COMPLETE LIST
I have a link to one story with a list, but I'm trying to remember the web site of the other story that had some guy from England mentioned.
http://www.brookesnews.com/040202saddamsbribes.html
Here's basically the same list mentioned on an old Freerepublic message board from January 2004.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1067836/posts
Thanks for your efforts, but we still haven't the names and companies from the U.S.
I wonder how many americans on that list also gave to John Kerry's Campaign or to the DNC, ACT, Moveon, AlFranken Radio, etc...
We need a huge NYT flow chart to explain this, Alla SBV connection to Bush Campaign!
Wouldn't be surprised to see Slick Willy on the list!
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