Who's behind the oil-for-food scandal?

[CHIMO]

Once it became clear some months ago that Saddam Hussein had been telling the truth about not having weapons of mass destruction or connections to al-Qaida, it should have been an embarrassment to the neo-conservatives who talked President George Bush into war with Iraq.


They were not in the least embarrassed, though, because they had known well before the invasion that Saddam had done everything he could possibly do to assure the world that he was no threat to the region, the US and the world.

Their intent all along was no secret: They wanted "regime change" to fit their plans for an American empire, with a permanent outpost in Baghdad.

His report to the UN will be made public and judgments can then be made. It may be there is no scandal at all. Just another trick of the neo-conservatives to blow away anyone who gets in the way of their plans for a global empire.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/561BE24F-B06B-4CC1-B28A-F6845EA8E469.htm

[JPZenger]

1. Only Foreign Names Released, Not U.S.

According to a story on NPR last week, only the names of foreign entities involved in the scandal have been released. The U.S. hasn't released the names of Americans or American companies that were involved.

[sportndandy]

2. Kick

Dems should get acquainted with this issue now. Al Franken touched on it yesterday. If I understand this correctly, the neo-cons will use the "food for oil" scandal to justify regime change in Iraq and to discredit the UN at the same time.

[whistle]

3. Look to the investigators of the scandal and ask what they. . .

. . . are hiding from public scrutiny.

[Simeon Salus]

4. Ahmed Chalabi,

if Joshua Micah Marshall has anything to say on the matter.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_08_08.php#003264

I seem to remember a lot of the big blogs were commenting on this story the first week of August.

As I understand it, all of the evidence (if such actually exists) has been for many months in the hands of a Chalabi cousin, another legacy Coalition Provisional Authority appointment.

Undercutting UN reputation is important to folks like Chalabi, who still have hopes of imposing an autocracy.