US ignored warning on Iraqi oil smuggling, UN says

well, according to this story-the US KNEW of the problem!!



http://news.ft.com/cms/s/d9d4d8b0-64f6-11d9-9f8b-00000e2511c8.html

US ignored warning on Iraqi oil smuggling, UN says

By Claudio Gatti in New York Published:

January 13 2005 01:31 | Last updated: January 13 2005 01:31

For months, the US Congress has been investigating activities that violated the United Nations oil-for-food programme and helped Saddam Hussein build secret funds to acquire arms and buy influence.


President George W. Bush has linked future US funding of the international body to a clear account of what went on under the multi-billion dollar programme.

But a joint investigation by the Financial Times and Il Sole 24 Ore, the Italian business daily, shows that the single-largest and boldest smuggling operation in the oil-for-food programme was conducted with the knowledge of the US government.

“Although the financial beneficiaries were Iraqis and Jordanians, the fact remains that the US government participated in a major conspiracy that violated sanctions and enriched Saddam's cronies,” a former UN official said. “That is exactly what many in the US are now accusing other countries of having done. I think it's pretty ironic.”.....

This was bought and paid for by the Bush regime. Yet another scam revealed.

I'm still waiting for the day when the September 11th attacks are found to be orchestrated by Bush cronies directly.

Sounds like just another PBS commercial... :evilgrin:

It's all just so bloody inevitable. Other words that come to mind: Ironic, pathetic, obvious...

Faux News is sure to have this a top story today! Right??

Notice this was 2003! Pre-Iraq War!!!

~snip~

Oil traders were told informally that the US let the tankers go because Amman needed oil to build up its strategic reserves in expectation of the Iraq war.

Last week Paul Volcker, head of the independent commission created by the UN to investigate failures in the oil-for-food programme, confirmed that Washington allowed violations of the oil sanctions by Jordan in recognition of its national interests.

However, only a fraction of the oil smuggled out of Iraq reached the Jordanian port of Aqaba. Most was sold to the Middle East Oil Refinery, in Alexandria, Egypt; to a refinery in Aden, Yemen; and to Malaysia and China. “This operation was not permitted under the Security Council resolutions dealing with the oil-for-food programme,” said Michel Tellings, one of the two UN inspectors responsible at the time for the implementation of the programme. “The volume of oil was not inspected and payments were not made to the UN escrow account, as required by the programme.”

In January 2003, Millennium, a little-known Jordanian company, asked Odin Marine, a shipping broker based in Stamford, Connecticut, to find tankers to load millions of barrels of Iraqi oil. Odin declined to comment.

“The ship owners were very wary,” recalled another broker involved in the deal. “They received papers from Jordan with all kinds of government stamps claiming it was legitimate,but never actually received anything from the UN.”

as many, even reporters (and esp. Fox--via Newt) , seem to forgotten this little fact!

carried oil from Iraq, through the Kurdish territory into Turkey completely under the noses of the US and British forces who were enforcing the "no fly" zones. We know this because an Australian Channel 9 crew and reporter went there, filmed it and interviewed everyone from Kurdish leaders to truck drivers.

Every Day - in defiance of the Oil for Food program.

The Kurds charged a tax which Saddam paid so the oil could get through. The Kurds were left alone by Saddam and were able to develop their own army and build schools etc.

Quite a while back. I watched it, and it was bumper to bumper traffic. Also, I read about the road "tolls" collected by the Kurds. They were profiting handsomely.

IT'S ALL CLINTON'S FAULT!

I can hear it now.

Will the media remind the public who was IN CHARGE OF OVERSIGHT and in the majority during this time? Hmmm?