-Caveat Lector-
This same Duelfer report says the sanctions were working? Sounds like the
report was trying to give ammunition to both Democrats and Republicans. -
JR
|
The Washington
Times www.washingtontimes.com
By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON
TIMES Published October 7, 2004
Saddam Hussein used a U.N. humanitarian program to pay $1.78 billion to
French government officials, businessmen and journalists in a bid to have
sanctions removed and U.S. policies opposed, according to a CIA report
made public yesterday. The cash was part of
$10.9 billion secretly skimmed from the U.N. oil-for-food program, which
was used by Iraq to buy military goods, according to a 1,000-page report
by the CIA-led Iraqi Survey Group. According
to a section of the report on Iraqi weapons procurement, the survey group
identified long-standing ties between Saddam and the French government.
One 1992 Iraqi intelligence service report revealed that Iraq's ambassador
to France paid $1 million to the French Socialist Party in 1988.
The CIA report stated that the Iraqi
ambassador was instructed to "utilize [the $1 million] to remind French
Defense Minister Pierre Joxe indirectly about Iraq's previous positions
toward France, in general, and the French Socialist party, in particular."
In the late 1990s, Iraq also used an
oil-purchasing voucher system through the U.N. oil-for-food program, which
began in 1996 and ended in 2003, to influence the French to oppose U.S.
initiatives at the United Nations and to work to lift sanctions, the
report stated. The Iraqi Intelligence Service
paid off French nationals by dispensing vouchers that allowed the holders
to make hundreds of thousands of dollars in commissions by selling them to
oil buyers. The payoffs help explain why the
French government, along with Russia and China, opposed U.S. efforts in
the United Nations in the months leading up to the March 2003 invasion,
U.S. officials said. Iraqi intelligence agents
also targeted French President Jacques Chirac, by giving gifts to a
spokesman, two of his aides and two French businessmen, the report said.
One Iraqi intelligence report stated that a
French politician assured Saddam in a letter that France would use its
veto in the U.N. Security Council against any U.S. effort to attack Iraq.
Iraqi intelligence documents recovered in Iraq
showed that the French citizens linked to the influence operation were
"ministers and politicians, journalists and business people."
"These influential individuals often had
little prior connection to the oil industry and generally engaged European
oil companies to lift the oil, but were still in a position to extract a
substantial profit for themselves," the report said.
Former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz
told the Survey Group that he personally awarded several Frenchmen
"substantial" oil allotments. "According to
Aziz, both parties understood that resale of the oil was to be
reciprocated through efforts to lift U.N. sanctions or through opposition
to American initiatives within the Security Council," the report said.
The report named former French Interior
Minister Charles Pascua as getting a voucher for 11 million barrels of
oil, and Patrick Maugein, who received a voucher for 13 million barrels of
oil. The report said Mr. Maugein, the chief executive officer of the SOCO
oil company, was a "conduit" to Mr. Chirac.
Michel Grimard, the founder of the
French-Iraqi Export Club, received a voucher for 5.5 million barrels, and
the Iraqi-French Friendship Society received vouchers for more than 10
million barrels. French oil companies Total
and SOCAP were granted vouchers for 105 million and 93 million barrels of
oil, respectively. The report stated that Iraq
covertly purchased missiles and other military goods from Russia, Belarus,
China, North Korea and South Korea. According
to the report, illegal goods used in making weapons of mass destruction
were sold to Iraq by companies in Jordan, India, France, Italy, Romania
and Turkey. Conventional arms also were sold
to Iraq by China, Jordan, India, South Korea, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Cyprus,
Egypt, Lebanon, Georgia, France, Poland, Syria, Belarus, North Korea,
Yugoslavia, Yemen, Russia, Romania and the Republic of China (Taiwan).
The report said Saddam's regime obtained $1.5
billion from U.N. humanitarian contract kickbacks and $228.5 million in
surcharges on U.N.-approved oil sales. Other
oil smuggling provided the regime with $8 billion in cash outside of
U.N.-approved oil sales, the CIA report reveals.
Charles Duelfer, the director of the CIA
survey group, told a congressional hearing yesterday that a "sizable
portion" of Saddam's cash obtained from the oil-for-food program were
diverted to the military, specifically the government-run Military
Industrial Commission. "The funding for this
organization, which had responsibility for many of the past [weapons of
mass destruction] programs, went from approximately $7.8 million in 1998
to $350 million in 2001," Mr. Duelfer told the Senate Armed Services
Committee. Mr. Duelfer said that during the
period from 1998 to 2001, "many military programs were carried out --
including many involving the willing export to Iraq of military items
prohibited by the Security Council."
Copyright © 2004 News World
Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
Return
to the article |
|
The Washington
Times www.washingtontimes.com
By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON
TIMES Published October 7, 2004
Saddam Hussein used a U.N. humanitarian program to pay $1.78 billion to
French government officials, businessmen and journalists in a bid to have
sanctions removed and U.S. policies opposed, according to a CIA report
made public yesterday. The cash was part of
$10.9 billion secretly skimmed from the U.N. oil-for-food program, which
was used by Iraq to buy military goods, according to a 1,000-page report
by the CIA-led Iraqi Survey Group. According
to a section of the report on Iraqi weapons procurement, the survey group
identified long-standing ties between Saddam and the French government.
One 1992 Iraqi intelligence service report revealed that Iraq's ambassador
to France paid $1 million to the French Socialist Party in 1988.
The CIA report stated that the Iraqi
ambassador was instructed to "utilize [the $1 million] to remind French
Defense Minister Pierre Joxe indirectly about Iraq's previous positions
toward France, in general, and the French Socialist party, in particular."
In the late 1990s, Iraq also used an
oil-purchasing voucher system through the U.N. oil-for-food program, which
began in 1996 and ended in 2003, to influence the French to oppose U.S.
initiatives at the United Nations and to work to lift sanctions, the
report stated. The Iraqi Intelligence Service
paid off French nationals by dispensing vouchers that allowed the holders
to make hundreds of thousands of dollars in commissions by selling them to
oil buyers. The payoffs help explain why the
French government, along with Russia and China, opposed U.S. efforts in
the United Nations in the months leading up to the March 2003 invasion,
U.S. officials said. Iraqi intelligence agents
also targeted French President Jacques Chirac, by giving gifts to a
spokesman, two of his aides and two French businessmen, the report said.
One Iraqi intelligence report stated that a
French politician assured Saddam in a letter that France would use its
veto in the U.N. Security Council against any U.S. effort to attack Iraq.
Iraqi intelligence documents recovered in Iraq
showed that the French citizens linked to the influence operation were
"ministers and politicians, journalists and business people."
"These influential individuals often had
little prior connection to the oil industry and generally engaged European
oil companies to lift the oil, but were still in a position to extract a
substantial profit for themselves," the report said.
Former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz
told the Survey Group that he personally awarded several Frenchmen
"substantial" oil allotments. "According to
Aziz, both parties understood that resale of the oil was to be
reciprocated through efforts to lift U.N. sanctions or through opposition
to American initiatives within the Security Council," the report said.
The report named former French Interior
Minister Charles Pascua as getting a voucher for 11 million barrels of
oil, and Patrick Maugein, who received a voucher for 13 million barrels of
oil. The report said Mr. Maugein, the chief executive officer of the SOCO
oil company, was a "conduit" to Mr. Chirac.
Michel Grimard, the founder of the
French-Iraqi Export Club, received a voucher for 5.5 million barrels, and
the Iraqi-French Friendship Society received vouchers for more than 10
million barrels. French oil companies Total
and SOCAP were granted vouchers for 105 million and 93 million barrels of
oil, respectively. The report stated that Iraq
covertly purchased missiles and other military goods from Russia, Belarus,
China, North Korea and South Korea. According
to the report, illegal goods used in making weapons of mass destruction
were sold to Iraq by companies in Jordan, India, France, Italy, Romania
and Turkey. Conventional arms also were sold
to Iraq by China, Jordan, India, South Korea, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Cyprus,
Egypt, Lebanon, Georgia, France, Poland, Syria, Belarus, North Korea,
Yugoslavia, Yemen, Russia, Romania and the Republic of China (Taiwan).
The report said Saddam's regime obtained $1.5
billion from U.N. humanitarian contract kickbacks and $228.5 million in
surcharges on U.N.-approved oil sales. Other
oil smuggling provided the regime with $8 billion in cash outside of
U.N.-approved oil sales, the CIA report reveals.
Charles Duelfer, the director of the CIA
survey group, told a congressional hearing yesterday that a "sizable
portion" of Saddam's cash obtained from the oil-for-food program were
diverted to the military, specifically the government-run Military
Industrial Commission. "The funding for this
organization, which had responsibility for many of the past [weapons of
mass destruction] programs, went from approximately $7.8 million in 1998
to $350 million in 2001," Mr. Duelfer told the Senate Armed Services
Committee. Mr. Duelfer said that during the
period from 1998 to 2001, "many military programs were carried out --
including many involving the willing export to Iraq of military items
prohibited by the Security Council."
Copyright © 2004 News World
Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
Return
to the article
|
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