Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AFP) - France complained to the United States over accusations that French nationals and businesses took bribes from Iraqmade in a report by the chief US weapons inspector. The French embassy approached the White House and the US State Department to express anger at the way the allegations were made public. "The ambassador told the White House and the State Department of our displeasure concerning the methods used," an embassy official told AFP. The official said France was particularly unhappy about "the fact that the names of individuals and companies were made public without any apparent attempt to verify...

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 leaders and top U.N. officials, Insight has learned. Investigators, led by Claude Hankes-Drielsma and the KPMG accounting firm, currently are in Baghdad sifting through mountains of Saddam Hussein-era records seized from his Oil Ministry and the State Oil Marketing Organization that detail payments by Saddam to his legions of foreign friends and political supporters. An Iraqi newspaper, Al-Mada, published the list of 270...