Early Warning Not Heeded on Oil-for-Food Tuesday, September 21, 2004 By Eric Shawn NEW YORK — For years after the first Gulf War, the United Nations battled to keep everything except humanitarian aid from reaching Iraq. But U.S. lawmakers and experts believe the world body failed. The United Nations (search) first tried a series of sanctions to make Saddam Hussein (search) bend to its will following the successful 1991 war to oust him from Kuwait. But then it attempted to find a way for Iraqi citizens to get needed medicine and other supplies through the sale of Iraqi oil