WEASEL ALERT - UN "OIL-FOR-FOOLS" SCAM - Audits show rampant Bilking

[CADsortaGUY]

Originally posted by: rchiu

Originally posted by: stnicralisk
I pose this question one more time to the people that for whatever reason feel that not to support Bush would be treason and assume that everyone against their POV is a terrorist - Why didnt we go into a country that we know for a fact has WMDs, treats their civilians just as badly, and openly threatens other countries on a constant basis?

Naaa, you are not gonna get any. I mean there are at least two different people from the inner circle of this Admin, Paul Oneill and Richard Clarke, all saying the same thing answering the exact question you ask: Bush admin came into the office with invading Iraq in mind, and WMD, democracy are just some BS reason to fool the general public.

And what the Bushies do? avoid the question as usual and instead just throwing personal attacks on after the other. That's why you will never get a straight answer from those Bush supporters, because answer your question means exposing their beloved admin for what they are, bunch of freaking liars.

Or maybe it's a huge strawman...with a dose of tinfoil partisan rhetoric thrown in for good measure.

Oh and we can't forget the on-topic nature(or rather not) of this either

CkG

 

[burnedout]

Originally posted by: rchiu

Originally posted by: stnicralisk
I

I would like to express my sincere thanks to both of you for your ignorant attempts to hijack this thread.

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Originally posted by: burnedout

Originally posted by: rchiu

Originally posted by: stnicralisk

I would like to express my sincere thanks to both of you for your ignorant attempts to hijack this thread.

Back on-topic:

OP/ED on this subject from today.

CkG

 

[burnedout]

The plot thickens:

A Detroit-based businessman of Iraqi origin who financed a film by Scott Ritter, the former chief United Nations weapons inspector, has admitted for the first time being awarded oil allocations during the UN oil-for-food programme.

Shakir Khafaji, who had close contacts with Saddam Hussein's regime, made $400,000 available for Mr Ritter to make In Shifting Sands, a film in which the ex-inspector claimed Iraq had been "defanged" after a decade of UN weapons inspections.

The disclosure is likely to raise further questions about the operation of the oil-for-food programme, which is already the subject of Congressional investigations and a separate high-level UN inquiry.

Financial Times

 

[xxxxxJohnGaltxxxxx]

Originally posted by: burnedout
The plot thickens:

A Detroit-based businessman of Iraqi origin who financed a film by Scott Ritter, the former chief United Nations weapons inspector, has admitted for the first time being awarded oil allocations during the UN oil-for-food programme.

Shakir Khafaji, who had close contacts with Saddam Hussein's regime, made $400,000 available for Mr Ritter to make In Shifting Sands, a film in which the ex-inspector claimed Iraq had been "defanged" after a decade of UN weapons inspections.

The disclosure is likely to raise further questions about the operation of the oil-for-food programme, which is already the subject of Congressional investigations and a separate high-level UN inquiry.

Financial Times

Interesting. I'm still wondering where all the outrage is over the oil that was stolen from the Iraqi people. I thought that was the paradigm upon which the anti-war kids' arguments were build.


[insert catchy oil chant here]

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Originally posted by: xxxxxJohnGaltxxxxx

Originally posted by: burnedout
The plot thickens:

A Detroit-based businessman of Iraqi origin who financed a film by Scott Ritter, the former chief United Nations weapons inspector, has admitted for the first time being awarded oil allocations during the UN oil-for-food programme.

Shakir Khafaji, who had close contacts with Saddam Hussein's regime, made $400,000 available for Mr Ritter to make In Shifting Sands, a film in which the ex-inspector claimed Iraq had been "defanged" after a decade of UN weapons inspections.

The disclosure is likely to raise further questions about the operation of the oil-for-food programme, which is already the subject of Congressional investigations and a separate high-level UN inquiry.

Financial Times

Interesting. I'm still wondering where all the outrage is over the oil that was stolen from the Iraqi people. I thought that was the paradigm upon which the anti-war kids' arguments were build.

[insert catchy oil chant here]

True - it's interesting to see the level(nonexistent) of outrage over this by the leftists. Their almighty UN is corrupt and yet some still whine about how we should have given the UN more time to work and that Saddam was "contained". Well sure he was contained - getting rich due to the corruption of the UN. How nice...

CkG

 

[heartsurgeon]

ALWAYS FOLLOW THE MONEY....

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Volcker to lead oil-for-fools investigation

The United Nations has chosen Paul Volcker, former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, to head an independent investigation into corruption in Iraq's now-defunct oil-for-food programme, but is delaying his formal appointment until the Security Council decides whether to pass a resolution backing his mission.

Mr Volcker led an investigation into Swiss bank accounts that belonged to victims of the Holocaust. Attempts to unravel the multi-billion-dollar oil-for-food programme will require no less skill, as it touches on a global web of oil traders, arms dealers, front companies and financial transactions.

The Security Council has already issued a letter in support of the investigation, but Mr Volcker is said to prefer stronger backing in the form of a resolution. UN diplomats said most countries were willing to consider one, but Russia was resisting the move.

The US's General Accounting Office has said Saddam Hussein's regime acquired $4.4bn (£2.6bn) in illicit kickbacks on oil-for-food contracts, and $5.7bn in oil smuggled through neighbouring countries.

The two other commission members are to be Richard Goldstone, a South African judge, and Mark Pieth, a professor of criminal law at Basel University in Switzerland.

CkG

 

[burnedout]

And thar' she blows. . . .

April 20 ? At least three senior United Nations officials are suspected of taking multi-million dollar bribes from the Saddam Hussein regime, U.S. and European intelligence sources tell ABCNEWS.

One year after his fall, U.S. officials say they have evidence, some in cash, that Saddam diverted to his personal bank accounts approximately $5 billion from the United Nations Oil-for-Food program.

In what has been described as the largest humanitarian aid effort ever undertaken, the U.N. Oil-for-Food program began in 1996 to help Iraqis who were suffering under sanctions imposed following the first Gulf War.

The program allowed Iraq to sell limited amounts of oil, under supposedly tight U.N. supervision, to finance the purchase of much-needed humanitarian goods.

Most prominent among those accused in the scandal is Benon Sevan, the Cyprus-born U.N. undersecretary general who ran the program for six years.

In an interview with ABCNEWS last year, Sevan denied any wrongdoing. . . .

But documents have surfaced in Baghdad, in the files of the former Iraqi Oil Ministry, allegedly linking Sevan to a pay-off scheme in which some 270 prominent foreign officials received the right to trade in Iraqi oil at cut-rate prices.

"It's almost like having coupons of bonds or shares. You can sell those coupons to other people who are normal oil traders," said Claude Hankes-Drielsma, a British adviser to the Iraq Governing Council.

Investigators say the smoking gun is a letter to former Iraqi oil minister Amer Mohammed Rasheed, obtained by ABCNEWS and not yet in the hands of the United Nations.

ABC News

Note the link: "oil-for_food_ripoff". Heh. Only a matter of time now.

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Originally posted by: burnedout
And thar' she blows. . . .

April 20 ? At least three senior United Nations officials are suspected of taking multi-million dollar bribes from the Saddam Hussein regime, U.S. and European intelligence sources tell ABCNEWS.

One year after his fall, U.S. officials say they have evidence, some in cash, that Saddam diverted to his personal bank accounts approximately $5 billion from the United Nations Oil-for-Food program.

In what has been described as the largest humanitarian aid effort ever undertaken, the U.N. Oil-for-Food program began in 1996 to help Iraqis who were suffering under sanctions imposed following the first Gulf War.

The program allowed Iraq to sell limited amounts of oil, under supposedly tight U.N. supervision, to finance the purchase of much-needed humanitarian goods.

Most prominent among those accused in the scandal is Benon Sevan, the Cyprus-born U.N. undersecretary general who ran the program for six years.

In an interview with ABCNEWS last year, Sevan denied any wrongdoing. . . .

But documents have surfaced in Baghdad, in the files of the former Iraqi Oil Ministry, allegedly linking Sevan to a pay-off scheme in which some 270 prominent foreign officials received the right to trade in Iraqi oil at cut-rate prices.

"It's almost like having coupons of bonds or shares. You can sell those coupons to other people who are normal oil traders," said Claude Hankes-Drielsma, a British adviser to the Iraq Governing Council.

Investigators say the smoking gun is a letter to former Iraqi oil minister Amer Mohammed Rasheed, obtained by ABCNEWS and not yet in the hands of the United Nations.

ABC News

Note the link: "oil-for_food_ripoff". Heh. Only a matter of time now.

I was just going to post that.

Hey, I have an idea... Lets bring the UN in on Iraq and let them run things...

CkG

 

[GoPackGo]

The Congress is starting to investigate this as well.

A Congressman was on the OReilly Factor tonight and had been in Iraq a few months ago and spoke with Tariq Aziz. He said that Saddam thought the US would never come since France, Germany and Russia opposed. He also said that if France, Russia and Germany would have been more supportive war could have been overted all together.

If top government officials in France Russia and Germany were taking bribes this really is a blow to the UN and its process.

 

[klah]

http://reform.house.gov/NSETIR/Hearings/EventSingle.aspx?EventID=943

Congressman Christopher Shays (R-CT), Chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats, and International Relations, will convene an oversight hearing to examine the Iraq Oil-for-Food Program and steps being taken to correct apparent abuses of the UN-run humanitarian effort.

Witnesses will include the advisor to the Iraq Governing Council, Claude Hankes-Drielsma, Chairman of Roland Berger, Strategy Consultants. Mr. Hankes-Drielsma is expected to testify about alleged abuses of the Oil-for-Food Program and possible violations of UN sanctions by member states.

Other witnesses will include representatives from the Departments of State, Defense, and Treasury, as well as expert witnesses from the Middle East Media Research Institute, Heritage Foundation, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, and Columbia University.

British politician may face charges in oil-for-food 'fraud'

HUNDREDS of businessmen, politicians and United Nations officials could face jail as a result of the inquiry into Iraq?s oil-for-food programme, its chief investigator said last night.

Claude Hankes-Drielsma, the British adviser leading the investigation, said that those who "defrauded the system" of up to $10 billion (£5.6 billion) could expect criminal prosecution, as well as civil action to recoup the missing cash.

Mr Hankes-Drielsma, an adviser to the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) who is overseeing an investigation by the forensic accountants KPMG, said: "From the evidence I have so far, the report will produce some of the most disturbing information that you have ever seen.

In a scathing interview, he said the extent of the corruption, and the UN?s failure to tackle it, made the organisation unfit for any major role in the interim Iraqi government that will take power on 30 June.

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Uh Oh - The Swiss are on the case now.

Swiss expert to probe UN Oil for Food programme

CkG

 

[burnedout]

The chickens are coming home to roost. tick... tick... tick... tick...

Thanks CAD and klah for the updates.

 

[EXman]

Um I like the way He had to take a vacation the day this unfolded in the media... This Guy Could Work at Enron or Worldcom.

Iraqis DO NOT WANT the UN there they left before they'll leave again.

Iraqis think the U.N. = Pu$$ies that already screwed them for years they are tired of being the U.N.'s Bitch. I heard on the Radio That Qusai got 60K just to recieve a proposal for getting into the oil for fools program.

you libs that think the UN will solve this mess are mistaken. Hell they are peacekeepers not combat soldiers. They Don't want to even go regardless if their golden goose dried up.

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Annan Lashes at Critics on Iraq Oil, Food Scandal

Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Wednesday called accusations against U.N. staff of allowing corruption by Saddam Hussein's regime "outrageous and exaggerated" and rejected conflict-of-interest charges involving his own son.

In his strongest comments to date on the burgeoning oil-for-food scandal, Annan said U.N. officials were blamed for Saddam's smuggling of oil and a variety of other misdeeds that they had no way of controlling.

No way of controlling? I thought they were IN CONTROL of the oil-for-food program...

CkG

 

[xxxxxJohnGaltxxxxx]

U.N. won't provide 'internal audit' findings to the GAO; funny how that works. Let's pass 18 resolutions demanding that they do...wait, that won't work.

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Originally posted by: xxxxxJohnGaltxxxxx
U.N. won't provide 'internal audit' findings to the GAO; funny how that works. Let's pass 18 resolutions demanding that they do...wait, that won't work.

Maybe if we tell them there will be "serious consequences" they'll do it

CkG

 

[EXman]

Ha Maybe we should Invade NY UN offices make all the UN goobers pay their parking tickets before we throw deport them! I here they owe millions of dollars worth

 

[xxxxxJohnGaltxxxxx]

Originally posted by: EXman
Ha Maybe we should Invade NY UN offices make all the UN goobers pay their parking tickets before we throw deport them! I here they owe millions of dollars worth

'Shock and Awe' might get their attention.

 

[burnedout]

Yeah, the UN is currently in stonewalling mode. Imagine that!

Meanwhile, here are more thoughts on the matter from the Australian:

Amazingly, though, it has taken an incredible amount of time for this story to get what little traction it has so far gained in the media. (Certainly the anti-war Left, which is happy to believe that George W. Bush toppled Saddam to kick a few contracts to Dick Cheney's old pals at Halliburton, has been deafeningly silent on the topic.)

Perhaps because of all the DIY international lawyering engaged in by the world press corps in the run-up to Iraq's invasion, many journalists are reluctant to admit that the UN they put so much faith in was many times more corrupt than they could imagine the Bush White House being.

Or maybe they just don't want to admit that so many of the anti-war voices they used to support their stories were bought and paid for with money belonging to the long-suffering, if little-mentioned, Iraqi people.

 

[xxxxxJohnGaltxxxxx]

"Or maybe they just don't want to admit that so many of the anti-war voices they used to support their stories were bought and paid for with money belonging to the long-suffering, if little-mentioned, Iraqi people."

EXACTLY...not that I am one to question the motives of the French, Russians, and Germans.

 

[burnedout]

UNSCAM UPDATE

April 30, 2004 -- WASHINGTON - The State Department's No. 2 official said yesterday that those guilty of corruption in the U.N. oil-for-food program "ought to hang."
The blunt remarks by Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage to a House subcommittee were the strongest comments the Bush administration has made since accusations surfaced in January that Saddam Hussein ripped off $10 billion from the program.

Heh.

Meanwhile, the U.N.'s reputation has devolved so much that even the Canadians have various misgivings:

WASHINGTON -- With yesterday's landmark speech, Paul Martin tacitly acknowledged what Canada's foreign policy establishment has refused to accept for decades: that the United Nations is a failure, for which there is no solution.

The Prime Minister's proposed alternative is a new international body, the G-20 summit of world leaders, representative of North and South, developed and developing, rich and poor: a working group unfettered by the UN's bureaucracy and its anachronistic Security Council.

 

[rudder]

Oil for Food money ending up with Al-Qaeda???

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Originally posted by: burnedout
UNSCAM UPDATE

April 30, 2004 -- WASHINGTON - The State Department's No. 2 official said yesterday that those guilty of corruption in the U.N. oil-for-food program "ought to hang."
The blunt remarks by Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage to a House subcommittee were the strongest comments the Bush administration has made since accusations surfaced in January that Saddam Hussein ripped off $10 billion from the program.

Heh.

Meanwhile, the U.N.'s reputation has devolved so much that even the Canadians have various misgivings:

WASHINGTON -- With yesterday's landmark speech, Paul Martin tacitly acknowledged what Canada's foreign policy establishment has refused to accept for decades: that the United Nations is a failure, for which there is no solution.

The Prime Minister's proposed alternative is a new international body, the G-20 summit of world leaders, representative of North and South, developed and developing, rich and poor: a working group unfettered by the UN's bureaucracy and its anachronistic Security Council.

Even the Canucks are airing some reservations about the UN? Say it ain't so joe....


rudder - sly money filtered through sly hands ends up in sly pockets

CkG