According to a new AP release:
Interviews with dozens of former and current Iraqi officials by congressional investigators have produced new evidence that Saddam Hussein micro-managed business deals under the U.N. oil-for-food program to maximize political influence with important foreign governments like Russia and neighboring Arab states.
These interviews were evidently conducted outside Iraq after an Iraqi official involved in Oil-for-Food died in a car bombing last June. Many documents have been retrieved.
One of the documents, known as “the exempt list” and obtained by AP from congressional investigators at the House International Relations Committee chaired by Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., catalogues companies personally approved by Saddam and top lieutenants to circumvent Iraqi regulations to sign deals. The list contains hundreds of names of companies from more than two dozen countries.
No French, Chinese or American companies are on the list, but more than 280 Russian and 100 Saudi companies account for well over half of the list. The investigator who provided the document to AP said Congress might not have the full list.
This is positive news on two fronts. 1. The Congressional Committee seems to be on the case. (It’s hard to trust the UN to investigate itself.) 2. It’s nice to see another mainstream organ like the Associated Press reporting on this mammoth scandal. Good for them.
(hat tip: Charlie in Col)
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6 Comments
1. richard mcenroe:So Saddam was cutting sweetheart deals with over 100 Saudi companies, but of course none of that trickled down/was laundered for OBL?
Strains credibility, doesn’t it?
Oct 24, 2004 - 6:14 pm 2. Charlie (Colorado):Well, hell, I send him the link and I still don’t get first post.
Oct 24, 2004 - 6:16 pm 3. Terrye:I have heard more about this in the press in the last few weeks than I have in a year. I think maybe it is finally getting some attention.
Oct 24, 2004 - 6:26 pm 4. Charlie (Colorado):Strains credibility, doesn’t it?
The old line about straining at gnats but swallowing camels comes to mind.
Oct 24, 2004 - 6:40 pm 5. ras:Roger,
Saddam was always known as a micro-manager; occupational necessity for a brutal dictator, I guess.
Which has always made me wonder. We know that Saddam worked with terrorist groups, and his connections to 9-11 have never been either fully established nor discredited. But would a micro-managing man of such power in the ME have been totally in the dark about the plot? I suspect not, cuz the blowback might have come back at him (hey, it did!).
The terrorists wouldda wanted to stay on his good side, as he was a useful ally, and not piss him off by having him hear about the events on CNN later, like everyone else.
Which does not mean that SH personally helped plan or execute 9-11, just that I think it’s likely he was aware of it beforehand.
Oct 24, 2004 - 7:43 pm 6. PeterUK:It strains credibility that SH wouldn’t have had his Intelligence Agency penetrate all the major terrorist groups.Even if he didn’t order it personally,I can’t see any intelligence chief wanting to have break bad news to him,so it is likely that they would penetrate these groups on their own initiative.
Oct 25, 2004 - 4:31 pm