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Some of the people who used the program to make illegal deals are even Americans and Brittish, such as Brittish lawmaker George Galloway
Originally posted by dubiousone
I did not see the name George Galloway in the Washington Post article that you cite. Mr. Galloway has been accused but by no means found guilty. He is here defending his good name. It strikes me as grossly unfair for you to put that statement forth as though it is an established fact when it clearly is not established and is vigorously disputed by the accused.
..................
[edit on 5/17/2005 by dubiousone]
Former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua, also accused by U.S. lawmakers of involvement in corruption in the oil-for-food program, denied the allegations and said he was caught in the crossfire of what he called an American campaign against France, which opposed the U.S.-led war to oust Saddam.
“I have never been to Iraq. I have never met Mr. Saddam Hussein. I never received anything from the Iraqis, in any domain,” Pasqua said at a news conference in Paris. “If my name appears on documents as having benefited from allocations, it can only be the result of fraudulent behavior committed by certain people who used my name.”
Last week, the U.S. Senate committee presented what it said was evidence that Pasqua and British lawmaker George Galloway got oil allocations from Saddam in return for backing his regime and its campaign against U.N. sanctions on Iraq.
British lawmaker to defend self before Senate
Galloway planned to defend himself at a Senate hearing on Tuesday.
“The truth is, I have never bought or sold a drop of oil from Iraq, or sold or bought a drop of oil from anybody,” Galloway told the British Broadcasting Corp. before boarding a flight at London’s Heathrow Airport.
Originally posted by Jakomo
Galloway TOTALLY takes on the accusations at this link.
Make this guy an honorary US citizen.
WATCH THIS!
www.democraticunderground.com...
jako
The scale of the shipments involved dwarfs those previously alleged by the Senate committee against UN staff and European politicians like the British MP, George Galloway, and the former French minister, Charles Pasqua.
In fact, the Senate report found that US oil purchases accounted for 52% of the kickbacks paid to the regime in return for sales of cheap oil - more than the rest of the world put together.
"The United States was not only aware of Iraqi oil sales which violated UN sanctions and provided the bulk of the illicit money Saddam Hussein obtained from circumventing UN sanctions," the report said. "On occasion, the United States actually facilitated the illicit oil sales...
...Yesterday's report makes two principal allegations against the Bush administration. Firstly, it found the US treasury failed to take action against a Texas oil company, Bayoil, which facilitated payment of "at least $37m in illegal surcharges to the Hussein regime".
The surcharges were a violation of the UN Oil For Food programme, by which Iraq was allowed to sell heavily discounted oil to raise money for food and humanitarian supplies. However, Saddam was allowed to choose which companies were given the highly lucrative oil contracts. Between September 2000 and September 2002 (when the practice was stopped) the regime demanded kickbacks of 10 to 30 US cents a barrel in return for oil allocations.
In its second main finding, the report said the US military and the state department gave a tacit green light for shipments of nearly 8m barrels of oil bought by Jordan, a vital American ally, entirely outside the UN-monitored Oil For Food system. Jordan was permitted to buy some oil directly under strict conditions but these purchases appeared to be under the counter.
The report details a series of efforts by UN monitors to obtain information about Bayoil's oil shipments in 2001 and 2002, and the lack of help provided by the US treasury.
Originally posted by Jakomo
The US Administration also turned a blind eye to the dealings, even though they were well aware.
The US was not the one trying to stop the war in Iraq...it was other countries whose politicians were the ones profitting from the dirty deals that were made through OFF.. Russia, CHina, France, and Germany among others...
Originally posted by Jakomo
So, um, you are saying that Germany, France, Russia, Canada, and all those other countries that didn't join the war did so because they were profitting from Saddam's Oil For Food fiasco??
? It was PUBLIC PRESSURE that forced Germany, France and Canada to take their stance. Were all these people doing business with Saddam?
jako
Originally posted by Jakomo
So, um, you are saying that Germany, France, Russia, Canada, and all those other countries that didn't join the war did so because they were profitting from Saddam's Oil For Food fiasco??
? It was PUBLIC PRESSURE that forced Germany, France and Canada to take their stance. Were all these people doing business with Saddam?
jako
Originally posted by Skadi_the_Evil_Elf
Face it. The German, French, and Russian govornments were milking Iraq for all it was worth, and didn't want that golden goose slaughtered by the US, who had other plans for where that wealth was gonna get distributed.
Originally posted by Aelita
Boy, I think we need a reality check. The volume of sales was simply not large not enough to justify an altercation that followed. Russia has a lot of its own oil to boot.
So please, don't insult my intelligence by saying somehow public pressure in opposition countries had anything to do with their desire not to get involved.
No, but Saddam breaking the sanctions, acquiring banned technology and weapons, keeping documents which dealt on how to work with wmd programs, keeping unrefined uranium and refined yellow cake, plus hiding centrifuge parts to pick up the wmd programs once the scrutiny of the US and coalition lessened is more than enough of a justification "for the altercation that followed."
We are now finding the reasons why these countries didn't want the coalition to go to war with Iraq.
Originally posted by Jakomo
Excellent example of you rewriting history.
Originally posted by Jakomo
Saddam acquired banned technology? Like what? Incubators? Garbage trucks? Please provide a brief list.
Originally posted by Jakomo
Keeping unrefined yellowcake and unrefined uranium? WTF? Is the absolute only use for these things to be used in WMDs? Do you even have any clue whatsoever what unrefined uranium is? Do you think you can pack it into a warhead like cotton candy and voila? Please explain.
Hiding centrifuge parts? Again, WTF? Is a centrifuge solely used for making WMDs? Exactly how?
Originally posted by Jakomo
The reason why these countries didn't want to go to war is because, and please, pay attention here: