Iraqi Oil Bribes

From Little Green Footballs comes a link to this Yahoo/Reuters news item: bq. Iraq to Probe Alleged Saddam Oil Bribes Iraq plans to investigate allegations that dozens of officials and businessmen worldwide illegally received oil in exchange for supporting former leader Saddam Hussein, officials said Tuesday. bq. Their statements came after al-Mada, an independent Baghdad newspaper, published a list it said was based on oil ministry documents showing 46 individuals, companies and organizations from inside and outside Iraq who were given millions of barrels of oil. And more: bq. The list includes members of Arab ruling families, religious organizations, politicians and political parties from Egypt, Jordan, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Sudan, China, Austria, France and other countries. bq. Organizations named include the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Communist Party, India's Congress Party and the Palestinian Liberation Organization. And more: bq. Despite U.N. sanctions, Iraq was allowed to sell oil from 1996-2003 under an agreement with the United Nations stipulating that proceeds from the oil sales be used to buy food, medicine and basic supplies. bq. But bankers say some international companies selling goods to Iraq may have paid commissions to Iraqi officials that were deposited in Arab banks in exchange for winning contracts under the oil for food deal. bq. Oil traders say Iraq also smuggled oil through southern ports not monitored by the United Nations and through a pipeline running to Syria. bq. Damascus says the pipeline was only operating for testing purposes. bq. "Saddam had no problem giving oil to whoever he wanted," said one Iraqi trader who did business with the former government. We all know how open and well administered the Oil-for-Food program was... This sort of stuff is the tip of the iceberg - Saddam's government was very good at recordskeeping and these documents have now been found, collated and translated. There will either be public revelations of the contents such as this one or there will be private use of them for diplomatic gain such as James Baker's efforts to get Old Europe to forgive the Iraqi the billions in debt that Saddam built up during his dictatorship.