Oil-for-Food Money Went to Palestinian Bombers' Families
article
It's well known that Saddam cheated the oil-for-food program, and that almost every nation involved in oil-for-food knew about it. However, the world was getting oil out of Iraq, and oil was all that the world really cared about at the time. It is now believed that Saddam took $21 billion out of the oil-for-food program to illegally line his own pockets, and that is a huge chunk of the program's assets. It's also well known that Saddam sent money to the families of suicide bombers.
This report, however, shows that some of the money stolen from oil-for-food went directly to the families of suicide bombers. Such a direct connection was not previously known.
I might also note that the US is investigating a suspected terrorist, who may have funneled money from Saddam to Jacques Chirac. Several high-ranking French politicians have already been identified as illegally accepting quite a bit from Saddam, often in the form of oil vouchers (which could easily be exchanged for cash). Additionally, Kofi Annan's son (Kofi Annan is the head of the UN) was employed by a company believed to have illegally worked with Saddam, and made a hefty profit by doing so.
The UN continues to block investigations into the oil-for-food program.
It's well known that Saddam cheated the oil-for-food program, and that almost every nation involved in oil-for-food knew about it. However, the world was getting oil out of Iraq, and oil was all that the world really cared about at the time. It is now believed that Saddam took $21 billion out of the oil-for-food program to illegally line his own pockets, and that is a huge chunk of the program's assets. It's also well known that Saddam sent money to the families of suicide bombers.
This report, however, shows that some of the money stolen from oil-for-food went directly to the families of suicide bombers. Such a direct connection was not previously known.
I might also note that the US is investigating a suspected terrorist, who may have funneled money from Saddam to Jacques Chirac. Several high-ranking French politicians have already been identified as illegally accepting quite a bit from Saddam, often in the form of oil vouchers (which could easily be exchanged for cash). Additionally, Kofi Annan's son (Kofi Annan is the head of the UN) was employed by a company believed to have illegally worked with Saddam, and made a hefty profit by doing so.
The UN continues to block investigations into the oil-for-food program.
posted by Chris at
10:38 PM
2 Comments:
I like the blog.
Two questions..
If not from the oil-for-food program where else would the money come from?
Secondly, there were US companies on that list as well, but I have yet to read the naming of any of the corporations involved.
Maybe the answers are answered in the link..
I'll have a read now
By
Anti, at 9:52 PM, November 18, 2004
Saddam probably could have gotten some money even if the program had as little corruption as possible, but no amount near 21 billion. Maybe 1 or 2 billion at most, and that would take a lot more work than he did to manipulate the oil-for-food program.
There are severalAmerican companies on the list. The problem with this story is that it's been "released" several times. On the first occasion, one of the news networks actually got a photograph (or some other type of image like a scan or fax) of a list of companies/people and the amount they had been bribed with. That was, I believe, only a partial list, and contained no more than 75 names, if that many.
Iraq was not clear on who was given money illegally and who wasn't, as there is nothing as blatant as a "these are the people we bribed" list. The media doesn't want to release many names that they arn't completely sure about, probably because they fear lawsuits. here is a page that claims to list 270-ish names, but I can't confirm or deny any of them. It seems that Russia was one of the largest benefactors, while France also did quite well. I don't know if the names on the list are only of illegal benefactors, or if some/all traded legally, so your guess is about as good as mine.
By
Chris, at 8:54 PM, November 19, 2004
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