Reply #5: The real story behind the oil for food scandal ... [View All]

[HamdenRice]

is that from the time bush decided to invade Iraq, Kofi Annan has not been sufficiently supportive of the Iraq war and the slime machine then kicked into gear. First information was "leaked" to William Safire, the most dishonest columnist ever to pick up a pen -- information that was obvious and in the public domain -- and he began to publicize it as a scandal.

In a nutshell, every single regime that has had sanctions imposed on it has tried to get around those sanctions. Iraq is no exception. It was supposed to only be able to sell oil for humanitarian assistance -- food -- but like South Africa, South West Africa, Rhodesia, Burma, Iran, Libya and every other regime that has faced sanctions, it has gotten around them through false invoicing. Eg, it claims to be buying food, but actually is paying for weapons or spare parts.

The neo-cons are trying to lay the blame at the feet of the UN because they technically oversaw the program, even though it was mostly contracted out.

This is just an attempt to get Annan out and some lackey in as UN Secy General and to further weaken the UN. Maybe they will be happy if Tony Blair resigns as PM of the UK and is appointed UN Secy Poodle.