Say Anything Blog

The new report from the Iraq Survey Group's Charles Duelfer is getting a lot of attention because it says that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. But here's another interesting tid-bit from that same report.

NEW YORK (AP) -- The top U.S. arms inspector has accused the former head of the $60 billion U.N. oil-for-food program of accepting bribes in the form of vouchers for Iraqi oil sales from Saddam Hussein's government.

The report by Charles Duelfer, head of the Iraq Survey Group, alleges the Iraqi government manipulated the U.N. program from 1996 to 2003 in order to acquire billions of dollars in illicit gains and to import illegal goods, including acquiring parts for missile systems.

The alleged schemes included an Iraqi system for allocating lucrative oil vouchers, which permitted recipients to purchase certain amounts of oil at a profit.

Benon Sevan, the former chief of the U.N. program, is among dozens of people who allegedly received the vouchers, according to the report, which said Saddam personally approved the list.

The secret voucher program was dominated by Russian, French and Chinese recipients, in that order, with Saddam spreading the wealth widely to prominent business men, politicians, foreign government ministries and political parties, the report said.

Well, well, well. Whadda ya know. France, Russia and China all receiving illegal bribes from a corrupt, UN-sanctioned program with Iraq. But their objections to the war in Iraq had nothing to do with this corruption, right?

Of course we've been hearing these reports for a while now so they're really nothing new. My question is: Why we're not hearing more about it during this election? John Kerry wants the United Nations and countries like France to be our allies in Iraq. Isn't it clear that they have little interest in Iraq outside of lining their own pockets?

This scandal is down-right appalling. That program was meant to put food and medical supplies in the hands of Iraqi citizens, but instead Saddam Hussein and his international partners-in-crime were busy raking in illegal profits. People were starving to death and dying from diseases while the program that was meant to save them was being raided by UN fat-cats.

Yet France and the UN (as well as the American left) has the gall to call America's war, which liberated the Iraqi's from Saddam's regime, illegal.

Update:

And more...

SADDAM HUSSEIN believed he could avoid the Iraq war with a bribery strategy targeting Jacques Chirac, the President of France, according to devastating documents released last night.

Memos from Iraqi intelligence officials, recovered by American and British inspectors, show the dictator was told as early as May 2002 that France - having been granted oil contracts - would veto any American plans for war.

France bribed to prevent America from going to war? That explains so much.

We keep hearing from John Kerry that America, by invading Iraq over the objections of our international "allies," has lost face in the world. But have we? It seems to me as though the countries in the world who were opposed to our invasion of Iraq were either being bribed or receiving kickbacks from the oil-for-food scandal.

Its beginning to look like Iraq should have been invaded if only to stop the international corruption Saddam Hussein was engaged in.

Update:

Duelfer's report may indicate that Iraq had no WMD's, but he still supports the Bush administrations decision to go to war.

MSNBC - But Duelfer supported Bush's argument that Saddam remained a threat. Interviews with the toppled leader and other former Iraqi officials made it clear that Saddam had not lost his ambition to pursue weapons of mass destruction and hoped to revive his weapons program if U.N. sanctions were lifted, his report said.

"What is clear is that Saddam retained his notions of use of force and had experiences that demonstrated the utility of WMD," Duelfer told the Senate Armed Services Committee.