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| International-UN-NGOs |
| U.N. Official Implicated in Iraq Scam |
| 2004-10-19 |
| Posted by:ed |
| #7 Frank G, couldn't you have waited 12 more seconds for my reply? . |
| Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2004-10-19 11:14:20 PM |
| #6 One of the main reasons I support our invasion of Iraq is that the UN sactions were ineffective and were quickly becoming more ineffective. These relevations add weight to our understanding of that ineffectiveness. I think it's a mistake, though, to attribute that ineffectiveness primarily to insinuations that UN officals were personally corrupt. It's a mistake to imagine, for example, that the food-for-oil program was somehow intentionally sabotaged by Kofi Annan so that his son could enrich himself in corrupt consulting work. That's just a fantasy and a smear. The main reasons that the UN was not able to maintain an effective embargo on Iraq were that the the UN's cohesion, capabilities and will were too weak for such a long-term embargo. . |
| Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2004-10-19 11:13:34 PM |
| #5 blameless, of course, helpless naifs, led astray by the not-so-evil Saddam. Of course... my work here is done, I'll return tomorrow to check on the evidence Mikey S. supplies (along with footnotes... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-10-19 11:13:23 PM |
| #4 Under the terms of the U.N resolution establishing the program, Iraq maintained the right to determine who got contracts for oil being exported and the humanitarian goods being imported and to determine market prices. This was the basic problem. This provision should also be in mind, though, when thinking about the subsequent culpability of UN officials. The decisions about who would participate in the program and might thus be bribed were made by Iraq, not by UN officials. . |
| Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2004-10-19 11:05:58 PM |
| #3 I'll be back at 7 to check... aw hell. Never mind. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-10-19 6:15:47 PM |
| #2 Only one? Half the freakin' UN should be behinds bars. In Iraq. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-10-19 11:59:26 AM |
| #1 Article was from Oct. 7. I didn't look at the date. But it does give a good summary and mentions that the US has "13 secret lists kept by the Iraqi Vice President Taha Yasin Ramadan and the Oil Minister". Expect sh!t to hit the fan. And in that vein, from today: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?story=573217 American prosecutors are preparing charges against Benon Sevan, the former head of the United Nations oil for food programme, who has been accused of accepting millions of dollars in kickbacks from Saddam Hussein's regime. |
| Posted by: ed 2004-10-19 10:31:21 AM |