Breaking: Ashcroft to announce first U.S. criminal charges in Oil For Food

[funkybutt]

Attorney General John Ashcroft to announce first U.S. criminal charges in probe of United Nations' oil-for-food program for Iraq, CNN has learned.

Breaking...

http://www.cnn.com

[ixion]

1. *yawn*

the only ones who should be charged with corruption are BushCo, IMO.

[leftchick]

2. why did't he charge someone 3 years ago?

before the Iraq war? When the US knew wtf was going on?

[Just Me]

21. They needed time to choose a "scapegoat" (not a direct crony). n/t

[Fenris]

3. Oh that's rich.

[liberal N proud]

4. While you are there, DU the poll at the bottom of the page

Is Condoleezza Rice a good choice for Secretary of State?
Yes 47% 39212 votes

No 53% 43922 votes
Total: 83134 votes

[saigon68]

9. Voted against the piece of garbage.

Yes 47% 44796 votes

No 53% 50764 votes


Total: 95560 votes

[Wilms]

17. The tallys are "raw data". We have to wait until Rove adjusts them. n/t

[Hobarticus]

5. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain... n/t

[maddezmom]

6. sorry about the link : Justice Dept. Strikes Oil-for-Food Plea Deal

it was the first one I found on Yahoo.

WASHINGTON — An Iraqi-born American citizen will strike a plea deal with the Justice Department as part of the federal investigation into the U.N. Oil-for-Food (search) scandal, officials at Justice told FOX News.

The Justice Department on Tuesday will announce the agreement with Samir Vincent (search), one of the men suspected of getting kickbacks as part of the multi-billion dollar scandal.

~snip~
Vincent's name was listed in the CIA's Iraq Survey Group (search) report released in October 2003, which cited the Oil-for-Food scandal extensively in its discussion of Saddam Hussein's schemes.

According to the report, Vincent's company, Phoenix International, was awarded 1.5 million barrels of oil in 1999 and 2000, netting Vincent $1 million. Vincent and Phoenix received vouchers for 7.9 million barrels of oil, for a profit of $3.6 million between 1997 and 2001, according to the report


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,144730,00.html

[maddezmom]

8. CNN now has the same story

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/01/18/oil.for.food/index.html

[SOS]

7. Will Ashcroft be filing charges

in regard to the $20 billion in oil revenue that is "missing" from Iraq since the US invaded?

"US 'failed to control' Iraq oil"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4098729.stm

[yellowcanine]

15. How about charges against Education Secretary Paige for blowing $250,000

of U.S. taxpayer money to get Armstrong Williams to shill for the No Child Left Behind Act?

[louis-t]

18. Or the kickbacks Halliburton employees took

Or the money Cheney took from doing business with Iraq under sanctions?

[joefree1]

10. Weapons of Mass Distraction

Conservatives are trying to drum up the United Nations oil for food program. Unfortunatly for them no US soldiers are dying because of this.


Download the free poster/bumper art here:
http://ediablo.com/eDiabloGallery.html

[Mixxster]

12. Maybe they should look before they leap.

But a joint investigation by the Financial Times and Il Sole 24 Ore, an Italian business daily, shows that a tanker seen at Iraq's Khor al-Amaya terminal by a UN inspector was involved in the single largest and boldest smuggling operation in the oil-for-food programme - and that the operation 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."

<snip>

However, FT/Il Sole have evidence that US and UK missions to the UN were informed of the smuggling while it was happening and that they reported it to their respective governments, to no avail.

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.


http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/sanction/iraq1/oilforfood/2005/0113hypocrisy.htm

[MidwestTransplant]

11. Thank goodness we invaded Iraq. No we don't have an oil for food

scandal anymore.

[zbdent]

13. Somehow, I don't believe that Halliburton

will be charged . . .

[Justitia]

14. Oh brother.

:eyes:

Forest for the trees and all.
Do the darkside minions really fall for this crap?

[BR_Parkway]

16. If he didn't do it today, they might have to report about Condi getting

caught in her lies.

[fob]

23. Don't worry there's a "guy in a red van making threats" cover story

already in the works. It's "breaking" just in time for the evening news too.

That and there's a thread around here somewhere that the US guy being charged is a repugnican, but I won't hold my breath for that detail to appear in the reports.

[MisterP]

19. Prune-face Johnny gonna fight the war,

shotguns in the morning at the local porno star...

[daleo]

20. He sounds like a patsy

This way they can say they did their good deed, and ignore Halliburton et al. SOP.

[Owsley]

22. Good article on the subject

Can be found at Harper's Online:

http://harpers.org/TheUNIsUs.html

From the article:

"What seems to be consistently overlooked—not only by right-wing pundits but at congressional hearings and in the New York Times—is a distinction of enormous significance: the U.N. is being attacked for the policies and failures of particular member nations. The Oil for Food Programme was not some concoction of Kofi Annan’s. It was created by a vote of the members of the Security Council. And every aspect of how the program ran—what goods were allowed, the monitoring procedures, the transfer of funds, everything—was explicitly established by the members of the Security Council. Kofi Annan did not have a vote; but the United States and Britain did, and they approved of every resolution and decision that determined how the Oil for Food Programme worked. Whatever critics may say, “the U.N. bureaucracy” did not design a program that handed over cash to Saddam Hussein. The fifteen members of the Security Council—of which the United States was by far the most influential—determined how income from oil proceeds would be handled, and what the funds could be used for. The U.N.’s personnel operating the Oil for Food Programme did not set these policies. They simply executed the program that was designed by the members of the Security Council."

The article essentially outlines how the US is deeply involved in any scandalous activity in the oil for food program. Good read.

Owsley

[robertpaulsen]

24. But still no indictments for the fucks who blew Plame's cover.

What a POS!