Treasury's Role in Illicit Iraq Oil Sales Cited -WP

[Rose Siding]

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 16 -- The Treasury Department provided assurances that the United States would not obstruct two companies' plans to import millions of barrels of oil from Iraq in March 2003 in violation of U.N. sanctions, according to an e-mail from one of the companies.

Diplomats and oil brokers have recently said that the United States had long turned a blind eye to illicit shipments of Iraqi oil by its allies Jordan and Turkey. The United States acknowledged this week that it had acquiesced in the trade to ensure that crucial allies would not suffer economic hardships.

But the e-mail, along with others released this week by Sen. Carl M. Levin (Mich.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Governmental Affairs panel's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, provides evidence that the Bush administration directly abetted Jordan's efforts to build up its strategic reserves with smuggled Iraqi oil in the weeks before the United States invaded Iraq in March 2003.

The illicit oil exports took place outside the Iraq oil-for-food program, which the United Nations administered from 1996 to 2003. While allegations of corruption and mismanagement in that program are under investigation by five congressional committees, the Justice Department and a U.N.-appointed panel, the illicit oil exports outside the program have received less scrutiny. According to investigators, Iraq received more revenue from those exports than from the alleged oil-for-food kickbacks.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30725-2005Feb16.html

[UL_Approved]

1. This will come to haunt the Bush Crony Network

The U.S. wants to criticize the UN over the food-for-oil scandal. Which is fine, but it will come to include us.

Those people who live in glass houses should not cast stones...

[WarNoMore]

2. Oh my God!

Howard Dean should jump right on this, no?

[wishlist]

3. Another revelation about our hypocritical government

Par for the course

[TacticalPeek]

4. The scandal-plagued Bush administration.

Corrupt power.

[TahitiNut]

5. This criminal regime continues to stack up weekly "Teapot Domes" ...

... and the brainless, soulless Reichbots continue to kiss the rings of their GOPFathers.

[mhr]

8. I Love The Analogy

We need to find something greater with which to ridicule Bush, for surely he has surpassed in one term all the corruption of past Presidents combined.

[libodem]

6. Get this

From a December issue of 'The Nation' magazine: Likewise, the maritime smuggling that took place under the nose of "the UN" in fact took place under the nose of something called the Multinational Interception Force, a group of member nations that responded to the general invitation of the Security Council for nations to interdict Iraqi smuggling. The "UN" Multinational Interception Force turns out to have consisted almost entirely of the US Navy. The commander of the MIF was at every point, from 1991 to 2003 a rear admiral or the vice admiral from the Us fifth fleet. The United States contributed the overwhelming majority of ships- hundreds in fact.Britain provided the deputy commander and some of the naval forces and other countries contributed a few ships.The UN itself provided no forces or commanders. "The UN" failure to interdict Saddam,s tankers of illicit oil turns out, in every regard, to have been a US naval operation. There's more too.......

[wellst0nev0ter]

7. Saw A Recent Subcommittee Hearing With Carl Levin

Scoring point after point implicating the U.S. in the scandal while questioning a UN ambassador vigorously. By the end, old Norm Colon looked like he aged 10 years.