Iraq to sue oil-for-food suspects

[dipsydoodle]

Source: BBC News

The Iraqi government has said it will file lawsuits in US courts against firms and people suspected of illegally profiting from a UN programme.

The UN oil-for-food programme allowed Saddam Hussein's government to sell oil in order to buy humanitarian supplies during UN sanctions from 1996-2003.

An inquiry found that 2,200 firms paid $1.8bn in bribes to Iraqi officials.
>
Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement that the legal action was to recover damages and hold those who benefited from the illegal activity "accountable for their actions".

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7480304.stm

[Vincardog]

1. Cheney #1 Booosh #2 who else?

[FreakinDJ]

2. Kangaroo court bullshit

It took this long for Cheney's goons to purge all information of His and Haliburton's involvement

[Psephos]

3. Good. It was the single most corrupt UN program ever. Those who damaged the UN brand must pay.

All those millions going to greedy bastards instead of going to people it was supposed to help.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SpiralHawk]

5. But the republicon homelander chickenhawk leadership corrupted it even further...

as usual...

[Viva_La_Revolution]

8. you have been mis-informed. please see post #6. nt

[struggle4progress]

7. Perhaps Iraq should sue about 2400 companies:

U.N. Panel Says 2,400 Firms Paid Bribes to Iraq
Oil-for-Food Program Report Alleges $1.8 Billion in Payments

By Colum Lynch
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 28, 2005; Page A16

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 27 -- More than 2,400 businesses, including scores of international shell companies and major blue-chip European firms such as Siemens and DaimlerChrysler, paid nearly $1.8 billion in illegal kickbacks to the former Iraqi government through the U.N. oil-for-food program, according to a report by a U.N. committee investigating misconduct.

The 623-page report, which was presented Thursday by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul A. Volcker, the head of the Independent Inquiry Committee, is the most detailed account of how Iraq persuaded almost half of its 4,500 trading partners in more than 60 countries to circumvent U.N. sanctions by secretly channeling kickbacks into Baghdad-controlled Jordanian banks ...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/27/AR2005102700954.html

[CookCountyResident]

12. Start with...

Kofi Annan and his son.

[struggle4progress]

6. The Oil-For-Food 'Scandal' is a Cynical Smokescreen (Scott Ritter / 2004)

Published on Sunday, December 12, 2004 by the Independent / UK
The Oil-For-Food 'Scandal' is a Cynical Smokescreen
by Scott Ritter

... this posturing is nothing more than a hypocritical charade, designed to shift attention away from the debacle of George Bush's self-made quagmire in Iraq, and legitimise the invasion of Iraq by using Iraqi corruption .. as the excuse ...

... It has been estimated that 80 per cent of the oil illegally smuggled out of Iraq under "oil for food" ended up in the United States ...

The corruption evident in the oil-for-food programme was real, but did not originate from within the United Nations, as Norm Coleman and others are charging. Its origins are in a morally corrupt policy of economic strangulation of Iraq implemented by the United States as part of an overall strategy of regime change. Since 1991, the United States had made it clear - through successive statements by James Baker, George W Bush and Madeleine Albright - that economic sanctions, linked to Iraq's disarmament obligation, would never be lifted even if Iraq fully complied and disarmed, until Saddam Hussein was removed from power. This policy remained unchanged for over a decade, during which time hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died as a result of these sanctions.

While money derived from the off-the-book sale of oil did indeed go into the purchase of conventional weapons and the construction of presidential palaces, the vast majority of these funds were poured into economic recovery programmes that saw Iraq emerge from near total economic ruin in 1996. By 2002, on the eve of the US-led invasion, Baghdad was full of booming businesses, restaurants were full, and families walked freely along well-lit parks. Compare and contrast that image with the reality of Baghdad today, and the ultimate corruption that was the oil-for-food programme becomes self-evident.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1212-23.htm

[ohio2007]

11. money derived from the off-the-book sale of oil did indeed go into the purchase of conventional weap

...money derived from the off-the-book sale of oil did indeed go into the purchase of conventional weapons and the construction of presidential palaces.....
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1212-23.htm
yes
I think the Iraqi people have the right to accountability for those pet projects.

[Baby Snooks]

9. And here we thought it was just Oscar Wyatt...

The only people prosecuted in the matter have been Oscar Wyatt and an associate. But then what Oscar Wyatt was really prosecuted for was speaking out against the Bushes twice. First in 1991. And then again in 2003. Do not oppose the king. He will send you to the tower and have you beheaded.

Should prove interesting to see if our courts will even accept the lawsuits. No doubt the Justice Department is working overtime contacting all the federal judges giving them a primer in refusing lawsuits on the basis of the need to protect the guilty in this country.

[ohio2007]

10. 2,200 companies in 66 countries . That sounds like quite a shopping list

for the oil for food groups.