Friends of Saddam

The U.N. Still Owes Humanitarian Supplies To Iraqis

Washington Times: U.N.'s big debt to Iraq

It was supposed to be oil for food in Iraq, but the largest humanitarian program ever launched by the United Nations turns out to have been grease for friends — Saddam Hussein's friends.

"We should have spoken out when we came across indications that the Iraqi government was demanding kickbacks as the cost of doing business," said U.N. official Michael Soussan. "We should have spoken out when members of the Iraqi government made intimidating threats against our staff. We should have spoken out when the Iraqi government delayed or sabotaged our humanitarian program in Iraqi Kurdistan. ... We should have spoken out on a range of issues, but we did not."

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Meanwhile, Saddam tightened the screws on his countrymen in various ways.

According to the Kurdistan Regional Government, Kurds were denied a new hospital for the city of Sulaimani, home to 750,000 people. They were also denied funds for a diagnostic and oncology facility for Iraqi Kurdistan, preventing proper cancer treatment in the province, and they received just 2,000 of the 100,000 disposable surgical gloves requested for the maternity hospital in Sulaimani. Instead, the Office of Iraq Police, with approval of the U.N. Secretary-General's Office, allocated $20 million for an Olympic stadium being built by Uday Hussein, Saddam's now-dead son. "That was the sad result. ... No hospitals for the Kurds, money for Uday," said the Kurdish official.

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The Iraqi people are still owed the food, medicine and supplies that their oil paid for, but they never got. The member nations paid dues to the United Nations for honesty and integrity they never got. The United Nations started and operated the oil-for-food program, and its obligation to the common people of Iraq lingers even if its program does not. If the Volcker investigation confirms that a top U.N. executive either was bribed to look the other way or was too incompetent to notice billions of missing dollars, the organization is morally obliged to repay the Iraqi people the money that was stolen from them, without double-billing its member nations to pay for it.

Indeed. However, considering the lack of enthusiasm by the U.N. and other nations in the alleged "alliances" that Bush "damaged" to get Iraq back on its feet, this is one I.O.U. that is worth less than the paper it is written on.

(Full article at link. Thanks to Ron Norman.)

Scottish Company Admits Irregular Fees Paid, Doesn't Know If It Will Ever Be Found

IC Birmingham: Hunt for missing Iraq cash 'unlikely'

Engineering Group Weir said it was unlikely to track down £4.2 million in irregular payments it made while working with the United Nations oil- for- food programme in Iraq.

The company made the admission yesterday as it showed a significant improvement to its order book on the back of new products and a stronger economic outlook.

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Chief executive Mark Selway said: "We were pleased with the first-half results and have got an order book now to take us forward into a stronger second-half this year."

But Mr Selway said it was unlikely to discover where money went missing in Iraq.

The company said in July its Wesco Dubai business paid the extra money to an agent in the field, on top of normal commissions, and it was possible the money had returned to Iraq.

Mr Weir said that an investigation by law firm Herbert Smith into the payments continued, but indicated it was unlikely to find out who was to blame.

"I'm not sure it is going to really outline terribly much more than we already know," he said.

"It is going to be virtually impossible, in my view, to track down where the cash finally ended up."

(Full article at link.)

More On Cut-Off Banks

Telegraph: Banks 'laundered' Iraq oil for food payments

Stuart Levey, Treasury undersecretary, said: "Today's designation alerts the global financial community of the threat posed by these entities. It also serves notice to others that there will be significant consequences for institutions that launder tainted money or engage in similar corruption: we will cut you off from the US financial system."

The US claims Infobank was central to Saddam Hussein's scheme to divert more than $10 billion from the oil-for-food deal to the Iraq government. It is not claiming that either bank was directly aware of the plot to deceive the UN, however.

The action against Infobank was widely seen as a warning to Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko, who is said to have close ties to the bank.

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Congressional committees investigating the allegations have subpoenaed records from several institutions, including French bank BNP Paribas. The bank managed billions of dollars that came from Iraqi oil revenue, though there is no official suggestion that it was involved in wrongdoing.

A BNP Paribas spokesman said: "It is understandable given the publicity surrounding the UN oil-for-food programme, that US authorities would wish to understand details about the programme. As is customary, BNP Paribas will fully co-operate with the authorities. We are not the target of any investigation."

Good to see the banks being scrutinized. That's one potential source of info that the U.N. can't monopolize.

(Full article at link. Thanks to Ron Norman and John Jorsett.)

U.S. To Shut Off Two Banks Related To Oil-For-Food Scandal

The Guardian: U.S. Takes Action Against 2 Foreign Banks

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Treasury Department took action Tuesday against two foreign banks it suspects of money laundering, including one it accused of helping Saddam Hussein use funds from the United Nations' oil-for-food program.

The department proposed to cut the banks off from the U.S. financial system. The public and other interested parties will have a chance to weigh in before final action is taken.

The department designated the First Merchant Bank of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and Infobank of Belarus as ``primary money laundering concerns'' because they had not acted to combat the problem.

The designation - a tool available under the 2001 USA Patriot Act - alerts the global financial community about the alleged money laundering problems associated with the banks.

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Treasury said Infobank ``laundered funds for the former Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein that were derived from schemes to circumvent the United Nations' oil-for-food program, including illegal surcharges and inflated contracts.''

These funds were then laundered through several other foreign banks and shell corporations, which were not identified, the department said in a statement. Proceeds from the illegal surcharges and inflated contracts went either to the Iraqi government - in violation of oil-for-food program provisions - or were used to buy weapons or to finance military training. Further details, including how much money was laundered, were not provided.

(Full article at link. Thanks to Ron Norman.)

Heather Mills McCartney Speaks Out Against the Oil-For-Food Program, But...

Dangerous Logic points us to a Larry King interview with Heather Mills McCartney, Sir Paul's wife, on August 14th, in which she makes the following observation:

MILLS MCCARTNEY: I just think a lot to do with [Iraq war civilian victim Zeynab's] own genetics and her own character. Because people say, oh, how do you overcome this, how do you do that, but you get people who go through terrible lives and end up messed up, or end up incredible, like Zeynab, and you know, she obviously had quite a difficult life before the war started, you know, very poor country, and we were pretty terrible in doing the Oil for Food programme, because we weren't really giving the right amount of money for the oil; otherwise Iraq would have been a very rich country and had an abundance of food. So I think we have a lot to -- to be responsible for in the years gone by.

Mrs. McCartney failed to note, however, that the dictator under which Zeynab used to live profited greatly from the Oil-for-Food program.

Perhaps public figures in the media would do well to become frequent readers of Friends of Saddam. Be sure to pass the word along!

Lebanese News Site Alleges Israeli Responsibility in O.F.F. Scandal

Dar al Hayat: Ayoon wa Azan (The Scandal of Oil for Food)

Once again, I will link the scandal of the Oil for Food Program, to the stance of the United Nations vis-à-vis Israel; as what has become an issue against the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and the international organization, could not be isolated from the situation of the organization in general. Israel is always in the chair of accusation, or the doghouse as they say.

If there is a scandal, it is certainly not new; but raising it now is the revenge of the neo-conservative cabal, especially its horns in media and research institutes, or an attempt to tame as well as to cover-up the scandals of commissions and corruption within the program of rebuilding Iraq.

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We could quickly cancel half of the "scandal," as Saddam Hussein has stolen, according to the claims of Israel's supporters, around $10 billion. But $5.7 billion came from selling clandestine oil, and the UN has nothing to do with it; what remains is the second half.

Half of this scandal is related to Israel, not to searching for the lost billions; my proof today is the interest of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), the home of the worst neo-cons who support Israel, in the United Nations, its past, present, and future.

As Stephen The Commissar might say, "Save it for dKos." Still, interesting to see a Lebanese newspaper get in on the act, allbeit with a questionable premise.

(Full article at link)

Joe Mariani and the "Myth" of the "Moral" U.N.

American Daily: The Moral United Nations

The Left's dogmatic insistence that the answer to all of America's foreign policy questions lie within the hallowed halls of the United Nations continues to bewilder the clear-thinking. The persistent belief that the UN is somehow the world's "moral compass" is due more to hopes and dreams than fact and reason. The UN's record of incompetence and corruption is truly mind-boggling, and it seems to grow every day

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The UN is also the seat of world-class fraud and corruption. The massive oil-for-food/oil voucher scandal (often nicknamed "UNSCAM" or "oil-for-fraud") is only just beginning to make a dent in the "mainstream" news. Powerful and influential figures in UN member states, especially France and Russia, received millions of dollars in discounted oil vouchers, which could be sold on the open market. The list of 270 recipients (which covers just the year 1999) includes politicians, religious figures, and heads of corporations, many of whom figured prominently in the opposition to the liberation of Iraq. One name that stands out on the list is that of UN Undersecretary General Benon Sevan, head of the oil-for-food program that was set up in 1996 to guarantee that humanitarian aid reached the Iraqi people through the UN's sanctions. The UN itself oversaw each transaction, and took a 2.2% administrative fee, amounting to $1.2 billion over the years. Under UN mismanagement, deliberate or not, Saddam Hussein managed to siphon off over $10 billion with which to buy palaces, illegal weapons, and the United Nations.

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So this is the repository of moral superiority in the Western world, the organisation that Liberals feel uses its power more responsibly than the US. Even without debating the insanity of putting Libya in charge of the Human Rights Commission or Iraq in charge of the 2003 Conference on Disarmament (as was scheduled before Iraq was liberated a few months before), the UN is no more than the ultimate old-boy network of bribery and dishonesty. Sexual abuse, underhanded scandals, fraud, mass corruption and ethical breaches of all kinds permeate the United Nations while it pretends to hold a position of moral ascendancy. Putting the United States under its control, as many on the Left would do, would be just like having Bill Clinton back in the White House. Permanently.

One word: "Ouch."

(Full article at link. Thanks to Ron Norman.)

Two Key Companies Say They're Cooperating, Little Else

Boston Globe: Two companies in U.N. oil-for-food program for Iraq say they're cooperating with U.S. and U.N. investigations

UNITED NATIONS (AP) Two companies involved in the multibillion-dollar U.N. oil-for-food program for Iraq said Friday they are cooperating with U.S. and U.N. investigations into alleged corruption, hoping to clear their names.

Swiss-based Cotecna Inspection S.A., which the United Nations hired in 1998 to authenticate that goods entering Iraq corresponded to a list of those approved for import, said it welcomes the opportunity ''to set the record straight.''

The Dutch company Saybolt International B.V., which monitored oil exports from Iraq, said it was ''happy'' to help with the investigations into its operations.

...

In a statement issued Friday, Cotecna said it had been constrained in responding to allegations because of confidentiality agreements in its U.N. contract, but that it had sought and received waivers allowing it to provide information to Congress.

''The company is convinced that all investigating parties will conclude definitively that Cotecna performed its role according to the best professional and ethical practices in its industry,'' Cotecna spokesman Seth Goldschlager said in Paris.

John Denson, general counsel of Saybolt, said the company has already been providing information.

''We are in the active process of cooperating with the U.S. Congressional panels and any other government investigating authority, including the United Nations,'' he told The Associated Press. ''We feel that we have not done anything wrong, and we are happy to cooperate and help any governmental investigating body understand that.''

Not a lot we didn't know, seems that the gag is still in place for these companies to talk about the scandal. So...it seems unlikely we'll be hearing their side anytime soon.

(Full article at link. Thanks to Ron Norman.)

New York Times Points Out Bureaucratic Failures Which Led To Oil-For-Food Scandal

New York Times: Under Eye of U.N., Billions for Hussein in Oil-for-Food Plan

Since the fall of Mr. Hussein, the oil-for-food program has received far more scrutiny than it ever did during its six years of operation. Congress's Government Accountability Office, formerly the General Accounting Office, has estimated that the Iraqi leader siphoned at least $10 billion from the program by illicitly trading in oil and collecting kickbacks from companies that had United Nations approval to do business with Iraq. Multiple investigations now under way in Washington and Iraq and at the United Nations all center on one straightforward question: How did Mr. Hussein amass so much money while under international sanctions? An examination of the program, the largest in the United Nations' history, suggests an equally straightforward answer: The United Nations let him do it.

"Everybody said it was a terrible shame and against international law, but there was really no enthusiasm to tackle it," said Peter van Walsum, a Dutch diplomat who headed the Iraq sanctions committee in 1999 and 2000, recalling the discussions of illegal oil surcharges. "We never had clear decisions on anything. So we just in effect condoned things."

Surprisingly, considering the source, this is one of the most well-written, informative, and rather damning articles on the Oil-For-Food scandal that I've read in a while. If you read just one article about this whole mess, read this one.

(Full article at link. Thanks to Ron Norman.)

Iraq Not Paying U.N. Dues

Asia Times: 'Broke' Iraq too poor to pay UN

NEW YORK - Iraq's US-installed interim government, which is planning to spend about US$2 billion on its military this year, has declared it is too poor to pay the $14.6 million it owes the United Nations.

"Iraq was not in a position to pay what it owed to the United Nations, although it hopes to do so next year, when oil production has increased," the interim government says in a letter to the UN Committee on Contributions, transmitted through the Iraqi mission to the UN.

...

Striking a note of sarcasm, Jim Paul of the New York-based Global Policy Forum told IPS, "The Iraqi government should perhaps ask Halliburton to help them out." The California-based US company, with ties to US Vice President Dick Cheney, received billions of dollars in Iraqi contracts, some without competitive bidding.

"The fact of the matter is that paying your annual dues to the United Nations is of symbolic importance, even though the amount is ridiculously small," added Paul. He said that Iraq's excuse to not pay its dues is perhaps a message it wants to convey to the UN: "You guys did not go along with the United States and the United Kingdom" on the invasion of Iraq, "and now you don't have even your people in Iraq because of security reasons."

"It is a way of sticking its finger in the eye of the United Nations," Paul said. In effect, the Iraqi government is saying: "The United Nations is not one of our priorities. With all the billions of dollars US taxpayers are spending on Iraq, the $14 million should be peanuts."

If Mr. Paul is correct, it is also quite possible that the Iraqi government may have the Oil-For-Food scandal on their list, as well. One wonders what future Iraqi-U.N. relations will be like.

(Full article at link. Thanks to Ron Norman, who caught this when it slipped past me.)

Volcker Report, Part II

More stories weighing in on Paul Volcker's press briefing.

Radio Free Europe points out that Volcker is establishing a distinction between the Security Council and the Secretariat.

Volcker said he did not detect any resistance to a full investigation at senior levels of the UN, as alleged by some U.S. critics. He said his team would be examining the operations of a wide range of UN actors in Iraq's humanitarian program.

"This program was under the surveillance and oversight of the Security Council -- which is not the Secretariat, it's the Security Council -- and the actual administration in Iraq was largely under all these affiliated UN agencies, not the Secretariat here in New York, so you have to keep those distinctions in mind," Volcker said.

The L.A. Times sets the date of Volcker's actual report in 2005.

UNITED NATIONS — The panel investigating allegations of corruption in Iraq's oil-for-food program hopes to report on accusations of U.N. involvement by mid-2005, chairman Paul Volcker said Monday.

At a news conference releasing the committee's first quarterly report, the former Federal Reserve chairman said he didn't know how long it would take to complete all aspects of the investigation, which he estimated would cost at least $30 million over the next year.

And last, but certainly not least, our star reporter in the O.F.F. scandal, Claudia Rosette, advocates full disclosure of all documents relating to the program by the U.N. and the disgraced Chalabi.

The problem at this stage is not a lack of investigations, there being at least nine of these now in motion, including the U.N.'s own inquiry into itself, headed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker--who now has the monopoly on the U.N.'s central hoard of Oil-for-Food records. But don't hold your breath waiting for results. At a press conference Monday, Mr. Volcker said that his Independent Inquiry Committee, which is looking into such matters as the Oil-for-Food "payoffs, bribes, kickbacks, overcharges, undercharges," may not be ready to issue a report until the middle of next year.

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Meanwhile, in effect, the Oil-for-Food papers have become poker cards held by various players in a high-rolling global backroom game that lends itself to such practices as blackmail. In some ways, these documents have begun to resemble a form of currency. Maybe we should simply make that official, and ask former Fed Chairman Volcker to start open market operations now.

Certainly Mr. Chalabi's best defense, in Oil-for-Food matters, would be to disclose the documents he says he's got. But the responsibility hardly begins there. The U.N. should have disclosed its records from the start. The keepers of these documents would be wise to release them today, or at least allow public access to the databases both extant and now being assembled. The secrets packed away with those Oil-for-Food papers are the spawn of a sick and predatory system. There can be few endeavors more cynical and ugly than skimming funds meant for sick and hungry people, and few rationales more alarming than the idea that everyone was doing it--especially if "everyone" includes officials still in positions of public trust. The best cure is daylight. Or, to borrow one of Mr. Volcker's best lines: Let the chips fall.

Full articles at links. Thanks again to Ron Norman.

Volcker Press Conference Post-Mortem

The press is summing up Paul Volcker's press conference yesterday. Let's see what they had to say.

ChinaView, whom I linked earlier as having the developing story, has the ultra-condensed version of Volcker's report.

The three-member investigative team chaired by Paul Volcker said that the allegations of misconduct and maladministration are serious, and that they have decided to set their priority for further investigations on the UN and its various organs.

The AP expands on that, reporting that Volcker's report dealt mainly with the focus of the investigation, and the assumed length of it.

At a news conference releasing the committee's first quarterly report, the former Federal Reserve chairman said he doesn't know how long it will take to complete the investigation, which he estimated will cost at least $30 million over the next year.

The committee's report states that ''the allegations of misconduct and maladministration are serious'' and Volcker told reporters, ''I think clearly there's a lot of smoke.'' He refused to speculate on what the investigation might find.

''If you really wanted to wrap this up, in the sense of chasing down every contractor involved here and what happened to the money, I think we'd be here until the next century,'' he said. ''Obviously, we want to investigate enough of these cases to have an understanding, as best we can, of what happened.''

Volcker says that there is a lot of evidence to sort through. In the U.N. alone, there are 10,000 boxes of documents, and millions of pages of information to examine. One would think such a task would make him more open to the idea of cooperating more with other investigations.

Not so, apparently...

Volcker said there's ''a lot of competition'' in investigating allegations of payoffs, bribes, kickbacks, overcharges and undercharges by companies and individuals who bought Iraqi oil and sold Iraq goods.

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Volcker's committee has taken custody of the U.N. files and he told reporters it will only give out information to other inquiries that it feels will not prejudice its own investigation or be prejudicial to particular individuals. He said the committee's 50-member staff was already ''well advanced'' in organizing the U.N. documents and has started conducting interviews.

Seems to me that, as long as Volcker is viewing the other investigations as "competition," there won't be a lot of initial "cooperation." Something to watch.

To sum up, Volcker has not indicated anything that can be verified as corruption right now. And it seems that this investigation is in for the long haul, with a $30 million price tag. There will be millions of documents to sort through, and with a proportionately small investigative team, this could take a while before we know the whole truth about the Oil-For-Food program.

Unless, of course, Mr. Volcker decides to be more open and cooperative with other investigations, which at the moment appears unlikely.

As always, the full articles are at the links. Special thanks to Ron Norman for his help.

BREAKING: Volcker To Give Press Conference Today

ChinaView: Urgent: UN inquiry on "Oil-for-food" corruption sets investigation priority on UN organs

A three-member investigative team chaired by Paul Volcker said Monday in an advanced report that the alleged corruption with the UN "Oil-for-Food" mechanism is serious and they decided to set their priority for further investigations on the UN and its various organs.

"The allegations of misconduct and maladministration are serious," said the report acquired by Xinhua.

Volcker is scheduled to give a press conference on his report to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan later Monday in New York.

Sounds like the first big story we've had in a while. We'll be monitoring for any new information.

As Drudge would say..."Developing..."

(Full release at link. Thanks again to loyal reader Ron Norman.)

Ahmad Chalabi Faces Counterfeiting Charges

Boston Globe: Iraq issues warrants for Chalabi, nephew

BAGHDAD -- Iraq has issued arrest warrants for Ahmed Chalabi, a former Governing Council member, on counterfeiting charges, and for his nephew Salem Chalabi, head of the tribunal trying Saddam Hussein, on murder charges, Iraq's chief investigating judge said yesterday.

The warrant is the latest strike against Ahmed Chalabi in removing him from the centers of power. A longtime Iraqi exile opposition leader, he had been a favorite of many in the Pentagon but fell out with the Americans in the weeks before the handover of Iraqi sovereignty in June.

Both denied the charges, calling them part of a political conspiracy against the Chalabi family.

While not directly related to the Oil-For-Food scandal, this is an interesting turn of events. Ahmad was one of the first Iraqis to call for an O.F.F. investigation, and Salem was the administrator of Saddam's trial.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out, and what impact this will have on both the investigation and the trial.

(Full article at link.)

Volcker Status Report In...But Don't Get Too Excited

Washington Times: Oil-for-food inquiry panel reports status

The Independent Inquiry Committee into the U.N. Oil-for-Food Program in Iraq Friday turned in its first status report to the world organization.

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An ICC spokeswoman, Anna Di Lellio, told United Press International, the report contains "no news on substantive findings on the investigation." She said it was mostly about setting up the office and hiring of staff, housed in a nearby building, outside the U.N. complex.

It's not terribly exciting news, but it's the first we've had in a while here at FoS. We can only hope that this is not an indicator of the future speed in which the investigation moves.

(Full article at link)

Rosett Suggests O.F.F. Saddam-Al Qaeda Link

Claudia Rosett: An Oil-for-Food Connection?

By 1996, remember, bin Laden had been run out of Sudan, and seems to have been out of money. He needed a fresh bundle to rent Afghanistan from the Taliban, train recruits, expand al Qaeda's global network, and launch what eventually became the 9/11 attacks. Meanwhile, over in Iraq about that same time, Saddam Hussein, after a lean stretch under United Nations sanctions, had just cut his Oil-for-Food deal with the U.N., and soon began exploiting that program to embezzle billions meant for relief.

Both Saddam and bin Laden were, in their way, seasoned businessmen. Both had a taste for war. Both hated America. By the late 1990s, Saddam, despite continuing sanctions, was solidly back in business, socking away his purloined billions in secret accounts, but he had no way to attack the United States directly. Bin Laden needed millions to fund al Qaeda, which could then launch a direct strike on the United States. Whatever the differences between Saddam and bin Laden, their circumstances by the late 1990s had
all the makings of a deal. Pocket change for Saddam, financial security for bin Laden, and satisfaction for both--death to Americans.

Now let's talk facts. In 1996, Sudan kicked out bin Laden. He went to Afghanistan, arriving there pretty much bankrupt, according to the 9/11 Commission report. His family inheritance was gone, his allowance had been cut off, and Sudan had confiscated his local assets. Yet, just two years later, bin Laden was back on his feet, feeling strong enough to issue a public declaration of war on America. In February 1998, in a London-based Arabic newspaper, Al-Quds al-Arabi, he published his infamous fatwa exhorting Muslims to "kill the Americans and plunder their money." Six months later, in August 1998, al Qaeda finally went ahead with its long-planned bombing of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Bin Laden was back in the saddle, and over the next three years he shaped al Qaeda into the global monster that finally struck on American soil. His total costs, by the estimates of the 9/11 Commission report, ran to tens of millions of dollars. Even for a terrorist beloved of extremist donors, that's a pretty good chunk of change.

(Full article at link. Thanks to Ron Norman.)