Free Republic

The publication yesterday of Paul Volcker's fifth and final report on the U.N.'s Oil for Food program tells us little we didn't know about the broad outlines of the $100 billion scandal. But, oh, are the details ever instructive. The Volcker report confirms that Saddam Hussein demanded, and got, some $1.8 billion in illegal surcharges, kickbacks and bribes from companies doing business in Iraq. It confirms that he steered billions in oil and humanitarian contracts to his politically preferred clients, particularly Russia and France, and smaller sums to agents of influence (or their associates) such as British MP George Galloway,...

On 9 November, a 38-year old Belgian named Muriel, blew herself to pieces in Baghdad near a group of Iraqi policemen, killing five other people. The woman had converted to Islam after marrying a Belgian of Moroccon origin. Her husband was shot down by American troops. The American authorities informed the Belgian authorities of the woman’s identity a few weeks ago, but Brussels kept it secret. Yesterday evening the Franco-Luxemburgian network RTL announced the news. Last night, the Belgian police arrested 14 people. Nine of them are Belgians, mostly of foreign origin, three are Moroccans and two are Tunisians. They...

PARIS - French prosecutors have requested that 42 people, including the son of late French President Francois Mitterrand, stand trial for suspected roles in illegal arms sales to Angola during the African nation's civil war, judicial officials said Wednesday. A magistrate will decide whether to proceed with a trial. The group targeted by prosecutors includes Jean-Christophe Mitterrand, who served as counselor on African affairs from 1986-92 under his father, and former Interior Minister Charles Pasqua, the officials said on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing. Preliminary charges of influence trafficking and misappropriating company assets have been filed against...

In reviewing the career of French diplomat Jean-Bernard Mérimée, two key moments stand out. In June 1995, Mr. Mérimée, then France's ambassador to the U.N., announced he was largely satisfied with the progress Iraq had made on disarmament and wanted sanctions lifted sooner rather than later. And this week, a French investigative magistrate brought Mr. Mérimée in for questioning on an allegation that he took a bribe from Saddam in the form of 11 million barrels of oil. So now we know what French officialdom means by the word "multilateralism": One part involves speechifying about the need for international "consensus"...

PARIS (Reuters) - A senior French politician said on Friday he had been implicated in an oil-for-food scam in Iraq in an effort to discredit President Jacques Chirac, a fierce opponent of the U.S.-led war in Iraq. A U.S. Senate report on Thursday said Senator Charles Pasqua -- once a close Chirac associate and former interior minister in a conservative government -- had received an allocation of 11 million barrels of oil with the personal approval of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The oil-for-food program allowed Iraq to sell limited oil supplies to buy basic goods and negotiate its own...

A senior French politician said on Friday he had been implicated in an oil-for-food scam in Iraq in an effort to discredit President Jacques Chirac, a fierce opponent of the US-led war in Iraq. A US Senate report on Thursday said Senator Charles Pasqua - once a close Chirac associate and former interior minister in a conservative government - had received an allocation of 11 million barrels of oil with the personal approval of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The oil-for-food programme was dogged by allegations of massive fraud and charges Saddam used it to buy influence in the West....

So on the day the Senate Foreign Relations Committee finally tossed John Bolton's nomination for U.N. Ambassador to the full Senate for confirmation, the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations issued a 20-page report, "Oil for Influence: How Saddam Used Oil to Reward Politicians and Terrorist Entities Under the United Nations' Oil-For-Food Program." Let there be no doubt these two events are related. The report focuses on allegations that Charles Pasqua, a former French Interior Minister and a member of the French Senate; Bernard Guillet, an aide to Mr. Pasqua; and George Galloway, a British Member of Parliament, were granted lucrative...

When Senator Norm Coleman (R., Minn.) last year compared the United Nations Oil-for-Food scandal to “an onion,” he had just one thing wrong: The more you peel, the bigger it gets. The latest insights into this cosmos of U.N.-fostered corruption come by way of a bipartisan report just released by the Senate Permanent Subcomittee on Investigations, or PSI, led by Coleman. In detail, with supporting documentation, the report shows how Saddam Hussein, via Oil-for-Food, gave rights to buy millions of barrels of underpriced Iraqi oil to two politicians who supported his regime: former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua and British...

Panel: European Pols Took Saddam Bribes Thursday, May 12, 2005 UNITED NATIONS — Two European politicians received millions of barrels of Iraqi oil in exchange for their support of Saddam Hussein's regime, a U.S. Senate committee probing corruption in the U.N. Oil-for-Food program found. The report, released late Wednesday, accused British lawmaker George Galloway (search) and former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua (search) accepted oil allocations under the Oil-for-Food scheme. The allegations against the the two men, outspoken opponents of U.N. sanctions against Iraq in the 1990s, are not new. What is new is the documentation that the committee offered,...

PARIS (AP) - Two European politicians on Thursday adamantly denied accusations from a U.S. Senate committee that Saddam Hussein's regime allocated them millions of barrels of Iraqi oil in exchange for their support. The denials came a day after the committee investigating corruption in the U.N. oil-for-food program released new evidence purporting to show that the two politicians, from Britain and France, received vouchers for Iraqi oil in exchange for supporting Saddam's regime. British lawmaker George Galloway called the claim against him "patently absurd." Former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua said he has already repeatedly denied having "received any benefit...

Europeans accused in oil-for-food report NICK WADHAMS Associated Press UNITED NATIONS - A U.S. Senate committee probing corruption in the U.N. oil-for-food program released new evidence purporting to show that two leading politicians from Britain and France received vouchers for millions of barrels of Iraqi oil in exchange for their support of Saddam Hussein's regime. Citing contracts, letters and interviews with former Iraqi leaders, the probe set out evidence Wednesday to back the claim that British lawmaker George Galloway and former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua accepted oil allocations under the scheme. Galloway and Pasqua have denied any wrongdoing in...

Charles Pasqua, a former French minister of interior, has emerged as one of the highest-ranking targets of the widening investigations into the Iraq oil-for-food scandal. United Nations, US and French investigators are examining Iraqi documents that show officials in Baghdad were instructed to transfer his lucrative oil allocations to an offshore company, to shield him from criticism. Mr Pasqua's alleged role has emerged as inquiries turn to the role of foreign governments in the corruption within the humanitarian aid programme. France and Russia, which opposed the 2003 invasion, have long been accused in the US of being too close to...

A SPECIAL French court yesterday charged Charles Pasqua, the senator at the centre of Iraqi bribery allegations, with offences in three cases of alleged corruption while he served as Interior Minister.The move against M Pasqua, 77, although unconnected with Iraq, embarrassed Paris as it sought to pour scorn on American allegations that he and other senior French politicians, businessmen and officials had received millions of pounds in a campaign orchestrated by the regime of Saddam Hussein to influence France. The court appearance by M Pasqua, 77, a longtime associate of President Chirac and a senior Gaullist party figure until the...

Probe to blow lid off massive U.N. scandal Documents prove oil-for-food corruption involving world leaders Editor's note: WorldNetDaily is pleased to have a content-sharing agreement with Insight magazine, the bold Washington publication not afraid to ruffle establishment feathers. Subscribe to Insight at WorldNetDaily's online store and save 71 percent off the cover price. By Kenneth R. Timmerman © 2004 Insight/News World Communications Inc. A team of international forensic investigators is preparing to blow the lid off the much-disputed U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq and will present new evidence of corruption at an upcoming congressional hearing that directly will implicate world...