Oil for Food (OFF) Debacle aka UNSCAM
- Lawhawk
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» Lawhawk - Saddam Micromanaged Oil-for-Food
http://1010wins.com/topstories/winstopst...Interviews with dozens of former and current Iraqi officials by congressional investigators have produced new evidence that Saddam Hussein micro-managed business deals under the U.N. oil-for-food program to maximize political influence with important foreign governments like Russia and neighboring Arab states.The Iraqi officials, who were flown outside of Iraq for their own safety during the interviews, provided a list of foreign companies favored by Saddam and his top lieutenants for import contracts under the U.N. program. They also revealed a parallel blacklist of companies that the then-Iraq leader disqualified from getting deals, investigators told The Associated Press.
The precaution of redoubled secrecy comes after an Iraqi official involved in the oil-for-food investigation of corruption died in a car bombing in late June after speaking with investigators from the House International Relations Committee. The official, Ehsan Karim, who headed the Iraqi Finance Ministry's audit board, was interviewed in Amman, Jordan, on May 21.
The Iraqi officials also helped investigators identify Iraqi front companies, which operated abroad to solicit and process alleged bribes from foreign companies and to help facilitate imports for the Iraqi government, including dual-use military goods such as vehicles.
The oil-for-food program, which ran from 1996 to 2003, was created to permit the former Iraqi government to sell limited amounts of oil in exchange for humanitarian goods as an exception to U.N. sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
-- posted by Lawhawk
» Lawhawk - NJ companies under investigation
Out of the 4,700+ companies listed in UNSCAM documents, two are NJ-based.http://www.nj.com/news/gloucester/index....
A spokesman for the U.N. commission headed by former Treasury Secretary Paul Volcker looking into the allegations noted that the world body sanctioned those companies taking part in the program -- a roster that included 4,734 companies such as Valero Energy and Coastal Corporation.
"The companies listed are the companies who officially acquired oil (from Iraq). Most are legitimate," said Mike Holtzman, spokesman for the commission examining the trade program."This is simply a list. The priority of the committee will be to assess any wrongdoing."
The UN instituted the bartering scheme in 1997 as a way to mitigate economic sanctions imposed on Iraq following the 1991 Gulf War. It allowed a state-run Iraqi oil company to barter with trade partners through the U.N. to sell oil and in turn, receive humanitarian supplies.
Investigators in Congress and the U.N. are reviewing allegations that the program wrongfully put $11 billion in kickbacks into former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's pocket while U.N. officials turned a blind eye.
Hussein is accused of skimming profits and exceeding permitted quotas to bring in illicit cash.
The amount of Iraqi oil refined in Gloucester County was unclear.
"Valero did purchase oil under the Oil-for-Food program for use in our refining system, including our Paulsboro refinery," said Greg Matula, a spokesman.
"All of our purchases were from U.N.-approved third parties, so we had no direct contact with Iraq."
In June, corporate officials acknowledged turning over Oil-For-Food documents to the U.S. Attorney for Manhattan. Other firms asked to turn over similar documents include ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco Corp.
El Paso Energy -- which formerly operated Coastal's Eagle Point refinery along the Delaware River in West Deptford Township before selling it recently to rival Sunoco -- is also among the corporations on the list. Kim Wallace, an El Paso Energy spokeswoman, said a definitive answer to whether any Iraqi oil was processed at the Eagle Point refinery is impossible.
"We sold that business, and the people associated with it are no longer here," she said in a telephone interview. Wallace added that Iraqi oil imported by Coastal was largely earmarked for its defunct refinery in Aruba. The Texas-based oil firm sold that facility in March to Valero for $627 million.
According to a report in The New York Times, Coastal and its former chief executive officer were the two largest beneficiaries of the oil-for-food initiative.
The corporation profited from Iraqi oil by $8.7 million, while former Coastal head Oscar S. Wyatt Jr. personally reaped $14.4 million from dealing with Hussein's government, the New York Times reported.
-- posted by Lawhawk
» Lawhawk - Oil for food beneficiaries explode in Tel Aviv market
http://www.rogerlsimon.com/mt-archives/2...Oil-for-Food Murders Civilians in Tel Aviv
Sound outrageous? Follow this. Another psychopath blew himself up in a Tel Aviv market today and killed at least three people and wounded dozens (four seriously). The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is claiming responsibility. Now as readers of this blog will recall, the PFLP is the group that Saddam appears to have financed via the UN Oil-for-Food Program.It's not surprising the article I linked above from The Scotsman has not gotten more play by our mainstream media. It does not fit with their narrative that Saddam had little to do with outside terror groups. Otherwise the justification for the war would be clear. In this case it's Saddam covertly working through the United Nations. What could be more criminal than that?
Saddam funded these terrorist groups, and gave them the means in order to conduct their terror activities. That money is still floating out there, and terror groups can still use them. However, as time passes, that money is squeezed until there is nothing left.
-- posted by Lawhawk
» Lawhawk - Kofi, Now You've Done Stepped In It
You've kicked over a huge nest of angry bees Kofi. Why? Because you are standing in the way of a Congressional investigation into the UN's Oil for Food Scandal. We want to know the who, what, when, where, why, and how that money got diverted from its original purpose and why you're sticking up for the bad guys.http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/10/politi...
You have much explaining to do, and getting senators pissed from both sides of the aisle isn't in your best interest.
In a letter sent to Mr. Annan yesterday, the Republican chairman and ranking Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations charged that the secretary general and a panel he appointed to conduct an independent investigation into the charges of abuses appeared to be "affirmatively preventing" the Senate from getting documents from a former United Nations contractor that inspected goods bought by Iraq.The senators also complained that Mr. Annan was blocking access to 55 internal audit reports of the program and other relevant documents and refusing to permit United Nations officials to be interviewed by the subcommittee's investigators.
-- posted by Lawhawk
» Lawhawk - Discussions ongoing
http://www.un.org/News/ossg/hilites.htmDISCUSSIONS ONGOING BETWEEN U.N. LEGAL STAFF AND VOLCKER TEAM: Asked about discussions with the head of the independent inquiry committee on the oil-for-food program, Paul Volcker, the Spokesman said that discussions were taking place today between UN legal staff and members of Volcker’s staff. Once he learned about the outcome of that meeting, the Spokesman added, he hoped to clarify the UN position on documents and witnesses, which was brought up by a U.S. Senate subcommittee.
-- posted by Lawhawk
» Lawhawk - US Congress to UN: Where are the documents?
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,1366...Two U.S. senators investigating the U.N. Oil-for-Food (search) program have told U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (search) in a letter that they were "troubled" by his decision to withhold documents or witness testimony from lawmakers.If I were in Congress, I'd be calling for an immediate and complete suspension of all funding of UN operations, except the UN mission in Iraq, Afghanistan, and humanitarian effort in Sudan - unless and until every last dollar is accounted for under the UNSCAM.Sens. Norm Coleman (search) of Minnesota and Carl Levin (search) of Michigan sent a letter to Annan Tuesday in which they blasted Annan for "affirmatively preventing" their congressional panel from getting requested information.
"They are not providing access to U.N. personnel, not providing access to U.N. internal audits," Coleman told FOX News.
We're talking about billions of dollars stolen from UN coffers meant for the Iraqi people. Now is the time to act to demand all the information and withholding the money is a credible threat, considering that the UN hasn't done much to aid the US in Iraq, Afghanistan, or even in Sudan.
-- posted by Lawhawk
» Lawhawk - Saddam, Via UNSCAM, Stole More Than $21 Billion
Saddam Hussein's regime made more than $21.3 billion in illegal revenue by subverting the U.N. oil-for-food program through surcharges, kickbacks and smuggling oil — more than double previous estimates, according to congressional investigators.http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2004-...
The figures are based on troves of new documents obtained by an investigative panel of the Senate Committee on Government Affairs, which was presenting them at a hearing Monday in Washington. The documents illustrate how Iraqi officials, foreign companies and sometimes politicians allegedly contrived to funnel vast illicit gains to the Iraqi government.The findings also reflect a growing understanding by investigators of the intricate schemes Saddam used to buy support abroad for a move to lift U.N. sanctions.
In one document, a letter obtained by investigators, Russian ultra-nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky — who campaigned for the lifting of sanctions on Iraq — invites an oil company to negotiate a price for an oil allocation the Iraqi government awarded him.
Investigators have found that Saddam and his minions stole nearly double the amount previously calculated by Duelfer. This is due to finding more information about transactions and uncovering more illegal oil sales than previously recognized.
Previous estimates — one from the General Accountability Office and the other by the top U.S. arms inspector Charles Duelfer — concluded that Saddam's government brought in $10 billion illicitly from 1990 to 2003, when sanctions were in place.So, this is the same organization that should have a say in what happens in Iraq? I think not. The UN screwed the Iraqis out of nearly $21 billion, which in reality underestimates the impact on the Iraqi economy. Every dollar lost/stolen/diverted from its proper use is a lost dollar in opportunity costs. Every dollar represents multiple dollars of economic activity and untold costs on Iraqi civilians.But congressional investigators found that vastly more oil — totaling $13.7 billion — was smuggled out of Iraq than previously thought. Investigators also raised the GAO's estimate of $4.4 billion in oil-for-food kickbacks by $200 million, and said the regime made $2.1 billion more through a scheme where foreign companies imported flawed goods at inflated prices.
According to the documents, the Iraqi government signed deals to import rotting food and other damaged goods with the full understanding of the exporting companies, who accepted payments for top quality products while kicking back much of the price difference to the Iraqi regime.
The scope of this scandal is horrific and is matched only by the willingness of the UN to play along.
-- posted by Lawhawk
» Lawhawk - Senate testimony on OFF (UNSCAM)
http://www.senate.gov/~gov_affairs/index... - here's the actual Senate testimony-- posted by Lawhawk
» Lawhawk - Roger Simon: The UNSCAM was enough for action on Iraq
http://www.rogerlsimon.com/mt-archives/2... - makes a pretty convincing argument that UNSCAM was more than enough to warrant action to force Iraq's compliance and regime change based on the destabilizing nature of all that money changing hands illegally; money that is being used to fund terrorism and the continuing insurgency.Further, contemplate the idea that had the US not eliminated Saddam from power, UNSCAM would be continuing unabated due to the UNs continuing moral and ethical failures.
-- posted by Lawhawk
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