US Ignored Warning on Iraqi Oil Smuggling, Oil-for-Food scandal hypocrisy

[G_j]

US Ignored Warning on Iraqi Oil Smuggling (January 13, 2005)

The Financial Times exposes US hypocrisy in the Oil-for-Food scandal and claims the "single largest and boldest smuggling operation in the Oil-for-Food programme was conducted with the knowledge of the US government." US President George Bush has threatened to hold back US dues if the world body does not take adequate measures following the Volcker investigation. Meanwhile, Washington violated UN oil sanctions and turned a blind eye to illegal oil smuggling to Jordan "in recognition of its national interests."

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

[On the Road]

1. And Not Only That

The UN oil-for-food monitoring was heavily staffed with Americans. All contracts were scrutinized to make sure that prices were not inflated to allow for kickbacks.

America should have to answer: if this did indeed happen, how come we didn't do anything about it?

[cal04]

2. I don't know much about this, but was Cheney involved?

Under Cheney, Halliburton Helped Saddam Hussein Siphon Billions from UN Oil-for-Food Program


The oil-for-food program was supervised by the U.N. and ran from 1996 until the war started in Iraq last year. It was designed to alleviate the effects sanctions had on Iraqi citizens by allowing limited quantities of oil to be sold to buy food and medicine.

But the one company that helped Saddam exploit the oil-for-food program in the mid-1990s that wasn't identified in Duelfer's report was Halliburton, and the person at the helm of Halliburton at the time of the scheme was Vice President Dick Cheney. Halliburton and its subsidiaries were one of several American and foreign oil supply companies that helped Iraq increase its crude exports from $4 billion in 1997 to nearly $18 billion in 2000 by skirting U.S. laws and selling Iraq spare parts so it could repair its oil fields and pump more oil.

Since the oil-for-food program began, Iraq has sold $40 billion worth of oil. U.S. and European officials have long argued that the increase in Iraq's oil production also expanded Saddam's ability to use some of that money for weapons, luxury goods and palaces. Security Council diplomats estimate that Iraq was skimming off as much as 10 percent of the proceeds from the oil-for-food program thanks to companies like Halliburton and former executives such as Cheney.


U.N. documents show that Halliburton's affiliates have had controversial dealings with the Iraqi regime during Cheney's tenure at the company and played a part in helping Saddam Hussein illegally pocket billions of dollars under the U.N.'s oil-for-food program. The Clinton administration blocked one deal Halliburton was trying to push through sale because it was "not authorized under the oil-for-food deal," according to U.N. documents. That deal, between Halliburton subsidiary Ingersoll Dresser Pump Co. and Iraq, included agreements by the firm to sell nearly $1 million in spare parts, compressors and firefighting equipment to refurbish an offshore oil terminal, Khor al Amaya. Still, Halliburton used one of foreign subsidiaries to sell Iraq the equipment it needed so the country could pump more oil, according to a report in the Washington Post in June 2001.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7053.htm

Under Cheney, Halliburton Helped Saddam Siphon Billions from UN's Oil-for-Food Program. Profiting with the Enemy
http://www.counterpunch.org/leopold10122004.html