Reply #24: The Banana REpublicans seem to have set up a smuggling operation before the war: [View All]

[struggle4progress]

I can't quote more than 4 paragraphs, but the article says (for example) that Washington told oil traders it would turn a blind eye to trading with Amman, so the country could develop reserves in advance of the Iraq war. The amount of missing oil in these more recent reports seems to me only consistent with ongoing use of unmonitored tankers, which must require continuing US complicity.

US ignored warning on Iraqi oil smuggling
By Claudio Gatti in New York
Published: January 13 2005 01:31

~snip~ In January 2003, Millennium, a little-known Jordanian company, asked Odin Marine, a shipping broker based in Stamford, Connecticut, to find tankers to load millions of barrels of Iraqi oil. Odin declined to comment.

“The ship owners were very wary,” recalled another broker involved in the deal. “They received papers from Jordan with all kinds of government stamps claiming it was legitimate,but never actually received anything from the UN.”

In fact, no UN papers could have been provided since Millennium was not allowed to lift oil from Iraq, and the port of loading, Khor al-Amaya in southern Iraq, did not have UN authorisation to operate.

Nevertheless, shipping companies willing to take the cargo were found. “One of the vessels I fixed was the Argosea, which was owned by the Greek shipping company Tsakos,” the broker said. ~snip~

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/d9d4d8b0-64f6-11d9-9f8b-00000e2511c8.html