The Real Oil-for-Food Scandal

[pberq]

A conservative points out that the U.S. knew in 1991 that Saddam had
ended his WMD program. Therefore, sanctions whould have been lifted.

Here's some background on the author:

Jude Wanniski, founder and chairman of Polyconomics, Inc., is a world-
renowned political economist whose 1978 book The Way the World Works
was named one of the 100 most influential books of the 20th Century
by the editors of the National Review. He was an economic advisor to
Ronald Reagan from 1978 to 1981.

http://www.wanniski.com/
Also at: http://www.antiwar.com/wanniski/?articleid=5598

The Bayoil Indictment -- the Real Scandal
April 17, 2005

Memo To: Paul Volcker
From: Jude Wanniski
Re: What crimes did it commit?

As if you don't have enough trouble in preparing your final report to
U.N. General Secretary Kofi Annan on the so-called "Oil-for-Food
Scandal," now the U.S. Justice Department has jumped the gun and
indicted Houston oilman David Bay Chalmers, Jr., and his Bayoil
U.S.A. company. For what? For paying "illegal kickbacks" to Saddam
Hussen in order to get permission from Saddam to export Iraqi oil in
the oil-for-food program. Clearly what is going on here, Paul, is the
White House has encouraged the U.S. Attorney General to get out of
the gate before you do. The idea is to establish in the public mind
that the United Nations presided over a corrupt mechanism that lined
the pockets of Saddam and his cronies in the American oil industry at
the expense of the poor people of Iraq. And Kofi should hit the
road. . . .

<snip>
Indeed, the neo-con team is brazenly acting as if Saddam did
something wrong in selling Iraqi oil in violation of the United
Nations embargo that we insisted by kept on for a dozen years after
the 1991 Gulf War. The U.N. resolution did not prohibit Baghdad's
sale of oil!!! It prohibited its purchase by U.N. members. When it
came to the problems associated with the embargo that affected Jordan
and Turkey, both of which depend on Iraqi oil, by now every member of
Congress knows that both the Clinton and Bush administrations turned
a blind eye to the so-called "illegal sales," or they would have had
to come up with the oil from other sources.

The record is also clear and getting more embarrassing with time,
that our government KNEW in 1991 that Iraq had abandoned its programs
to develop weapons of mass destruction. The UNSCOM inspectors quickly
made those discoveries and the events since have confirmed Iraq fully
complied with that 1991 U.N. resolution before the year was out. But
when the other members of the U.N. Security Council urged a lifting
of the embargo, we insisted they remain in place until the Baghdad
regime of Saddam was REPLACED by one friendly to the U.S.(and to
Israel).

All this brings further shame on our government, now using every
trick in the book to cover up the fact that it has waged an "illegal"
war, to use Kofi Annan's term. This, after spending a dozen years
starving the people of Iraq by isolating it in the world through our
clout at the Security Council. By U.N. estimates, in those dozen
years 1.5 million Iraqi civilians, including 500,000 children, died
as a result of the embargo. Our former Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright famously told Leslie Stahl on "60 Minutes" that this loss of
life was "worth it" to keep Saddam bottled up. In the same interview,
she let the cat out of the bag that the Clinton administration had no
intention of lifting the sanctions as long as Saddam was in power.

(More . . .)

[pberq]

1. NPR toes the line

I just heard an NPR report on the Bayoil indictment which carefully omitted any reference to the important points brought up in this article. Their entire focus was on painting Bayoil as the bad guy.

No mention of the fact that the U.S. was supporting Saddam during the 80s, or this important point from the article:

"Indeed, the neo-con team is brazenly acting as if Saddam did something wrong in selling Iraqi oil in violation of the United Nations embargo that we insisted by kept on for a dozen years after the 1991 Gulf War. The U.N. resolution did not prohibit Baghdad's sale of oil!!! It prohibited its purchase by U.N. members. When it came to the problems associated with the embargo that affected Jordan and Turkey, both of which depend on Iraqi oil, by now every member of Congress knows that both the Clinton and Bush administrations turned a blind eye to the so-called "illegal sales," or they would have had to come up with the oil from other sources."