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| Iraq |
| BIG NEWS: French officials had hand in Saddam’s cookie jar say Iraqis |
| 2004-01-27 |
| Tip o’ the hat to da Perfesser; the translation of the original French article is here, from which I quote. What you’re reading is the Google translation. This is LeMonde, remember. Saddam Hussein rewarded his/her foreign friends, in particular all those who were the zealoies of its mode and were made the ambassadors of them. That was known. More than ten months after the fall of the Iraqi dictatorship, of the elements of proof were published for the first time, Sunday January 25, by an independent newspaper Al-Mada ( the Horizon ). I hear a puckering sound in Paris. On a full page, this new slack daily newspaper in its 45 E number, the list of more than 270 known or unknown personalities, companies, members of Parliament, associations, the journalists, the political parties which benefitted from generosities of the deposed raïs. Facsimiled with the support, this newspaper denounces "the greatest operation of corruption" of Ancien Régime. And it affirms that "million oil barrels was offered to individuals who have nothing to do with the oil activities" . On the whole, 16 Arab countries, 17 Europeans, 9 Asian and 4 of North and Africa and South America are concerned with this operation of reward. 17 European nations, eh? Just how many European nations are there? Abdel Saheb Salmane Qotob, under-secretary with the ministry for oil, assure us this information specifying that among the implied personalities two Prime Ministers appear, two Foreign Ministers as well as wire of ministers and heads of State. "the ministry will reveal all the names and to prosecute them to recover the money of the Iraqi people" , he indicated, adding that "information necessary was collected to subject them to Interpol and to continue them bus Saddam Hussein bought the consciences and wasted the oil richness of Iraq" . Wonder if Interpol really will go after "prime ministers and foreign ministers"? For France, not less than eleven names are published with the quantity of oil barrels which were allocated to them. Among them, written with a sometimes approximate orthography and including/understanding some uncertainties on the first names or headings of companies and associations, appear the company Adax, Patrick Maugein de Traficor or Travicor, Michel Grimard, the association of friendship arabo-Frenchwoman, Charles Pasqua, Elias El-Ferzeli or Ghazarli of Lebanese origin, Claude Kaspereit, Bernard Mérimée (former ambassador from France to Rome and UNO), Bernard Desmaret and De Souza. Not Chirac? Are they holding out? 12 million barrels would in particular have been allocated to Charles Pasqua, four other Mr. Kaspereit and three with Mr. Mérimée while Patrick Maugein would have profited from 25 million barrels. No other precision is given. The documents come from the SOMO (State Oil Marketing Organization), company of marketing of oil attached to the ministry for oil. George Gallaway, former Labour deputy with the Communes, appears in good place in the list. Its name is mentioned in six contracts and the newspaper publishes a letter of the SOMO on December 31, 1999, signed by Saddam Zbin, cousin of Saddam Hussein which managed this company and in which it asks for the ministry for oil of grant contracts to him. Apparently, this British member of Parliament was particularly well treated. We all knew that, but isn’t it nice to see the official documents? In this very long list appears also Khaled, the son of Egyptian president Nasser, the son of the Syrian Minister for defense, the son of the president of Lebanon, Emile Lahoud, the girl of the president indonésien Sukarno, Megawati, today Prime Minister, the Russian orthodoxe church and the Russian Communist Party. Ah, Megawati too! The Russian ultranationalist Vladimir Jirinovski, it, particularly are also well parcelled out (79,2 million barrels). Swiss companies, Italian nationals, Jordanian deputies, Egyptian politicians, the Popular Front of release of Palestine (FPLP), the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) are quoted. The list is not exhaustive. Among the quoted countries appear inter alia: South Africa, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Bahreïn, Bielorussia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Cyprus, Spain, Libya, Malaysia, Morocco, Nigeria, Oman, Panama, the Philippines, Qatar, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine, Yemen and Yugoslavia. Canada? Turkey? Spain? These disclosures caused in the close countries, either of the made indignant reactions, the ones calling upon slandering or the political plot, or of the justifications according to which they were legal businesses carried out in due form. As far as the knowledge can, the selected people received attributions for a certain volume of barrels which were then resold at companies. The interested parties touched in the passing a commission of which the percentage is not known. With the seat of the newspaper, Abdul Zahra Zeki, deputy manager of the drafting, confirm the authenticity of the documents and affirm that those relate to only the year 1999 and that others exist for the later years. How did they arrive in possession of the newspaper? No the answer. What is sure is that the head office of the SOMO, contrary to the ministry for oil, had been plundered after the fall of Baghdad and that enormous quantities of files had been flights. All the question is from now on to know if the enormous profits that generated the Pétrole program against food, under the aegis of the United Nations, from now on will leave at the great day. We’ve been wondering about the Oil-for-Palaces program for quite a while. The oil quotas were allocated with private individuals only starting from the third phase. The two first were reserved exclusively for the companies making trade of oil officially. It was the door open to the abuses. "Saddam Hussein transformed our country into a copier counts open on which all the obeying and servile servants were useful themselves" , written Al-Mada . Whatever that means, it can’t be good! |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #12 Speaking of Murat ... would a "Murat the Dead Troll-turned-Jihadi-turned-Corpse" death pool be inappropriate? |
| Posted by: Lu Baihu 2004-1-28 2:58:32 AM |
| #11 Sha-Zamm...God Damn, does the world really turn so bold. |
| Posted by: Lucky 2004-1-28 12:55:13 AM |
| #10 When Chavez crashes, I expect a remix of this situation with a latino beat. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-1-27 9:33:37 PM |
| #9 Good Lord, this is going to be a mess. |
| Posted by: Patrick Phillips 2004-1-27 9:20:32 PM |
| #8 Igs, according to the article the oil was sold (I'm betting "for food and medicine") and the assorted slimebags received a commission on the sale. What percentage? The documents don't say, according to the story, but I'll wager the cut varied depending on how useful the scumbag proved to be. Saddam would just wire the money to a scumbag's numbered Swiss/Caymans/whatever account without having to actually smuggle oil. Just imagine. If you sell 79.2 million barrels of oil at 15 bucks a barrel and take just a 1% commission, that'd get you $11.88 million. Any bets on whether Saddam was more generous than that? |
| Posted by: Puddle Pirate 2004-1-27 8:54:04 PM |
| #7 This could be fun. Who has the popcorn? What would be even more interesting would be a table correlating this list with a list of the nations and individuals who objected to intervention in Iraq to depose Saddam. Wonder if there is a provision for a member reclusing itself from the UNSC decisions when conflict of interest occurs? :) |
| Posted by: Gasse Katze 2004-1-27 8:53:25 PM |
| #6 The Russian oil companies were the largest buyers of Iraqi crude, who then turned around and sold it on the world market. It didn't require they load any crude on there own tankers. |
| Posted by: ed 2004-1-27 8:30:20 PM |
| #5 just curious, given the (reasonably) strict oil export rules for Iraq (admittedly stuff go through to Syria/Jordan), allocations of 79.2mln barrels (for that russian bloke) seem awfully high, this is a shitload of tankers we are talking about. How exactly would you be able to deliver this stuff? |
| Posted by: Igs 2004-1-27 8:21:05 PM |
| #4 Did Spain recently have a seat on some influential UN council? Perhaps one of the floating UNSC seats? |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-1-27 8:19:00 PM |
| #3 However, the money that was supposed to go to these traitors may have been stolen by other more clever traitors or by Baathists. This will get very complicated. |
| Posted by: mhw 2004-1-27 8:00:34 PM |
| #2 ahhhh lies, all lies! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-1-27 7:44:38 PM |
| #1 Canada? Turkey? Spain? Canada = connections to ELF. Turkey = proximity to Iraq (perhaps why Murat hasn't been heard from :) ...). Spain = don't know. All the other nations make sense tho, from an influence-buying standpoint. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2004-1-27 7:34:46 PM |