| When the list of Saddam’s various oil-for-food beneficiaries was released a couple months back, journalists and bloggers went to work putting faces and backgrounds to the names. Predictably, the majority of the recipients were Arabs, Frenchmen, Russians, and a grab bag of loathsome front organizations. However, there were three Spanish recipients listed, two of which were immediately identified: Basem Qaqish, a member of the Spanish Committee for the Defense of the Arab Cause, and Ali Ballout, a Lebanese journalist living in Spain. The third name, that of "Javier Robert", has remained officially unclaimed. However, several Spanish magazines, including La Clave, have recently speculated that "Javier Robert" is really Javier Rupérez the Spanish ambassador to the United States, former head of Foreign Relations for the Partido Popular, and a former president of Nato. |