Moscow Denies Stalling Oil-For-Food Probe

[Khephra]

MOSCOW -- Russia denied Friday it was withholding information from a panel investigating alleged corruption in the multibillion-dollar U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq.

Members of the U.N. investigation committee led by Paul Volcker were in Moscow this week seeking answers to how Saddam Hussein's government was able to subvert U.N. sanctions and raise billions of dollars.

An official close to the investigators has said Moscow was hampering the probe.

A report by top U.S. arms inspector Charles Duelfer released last month alleged that Saddam issued secret vouchers for purchasing oil to an array of officials and political figures from various countries, primarily Russia, France and China.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-russia-oil-for-food-investigation,0,5415583.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines

[Old and In the Way]

1. Hey, anyone ask Dick Cheney?

he might know something about that program.

[bvar22]

2. No American based Corporations mentioned...

..in this article.

In the original Deulfer Report, at least 3 US Headquartered Corporations are named as receiving the vouchers:
Exxon Mobil, ChevronTexaco, and Valero Energy:

"With every one of his 30-odd justifications for the Iraq war in tatters, George W. Bush and his veep are now trying to claim the corruption of the United Nations Oil-for-food program is reason enough to invade. Indeed, for months, Republicans and President Bush have been obsessed with the corruption of the Oil-for-Food program as a means for bashing former allies like France and the UN in general. What they don't want to trumpet is the names of American individuals and corporations that were similarly engaged in bribes and illicit trade with Saddam Hussein's Iraq. One can imagine that if Dick Cheney were one of those individuals, there would be a lot of pressure to keep that secret.

"The names on the politically explosive list are French, Russian, Chinese, Canadian and Japanese; if Duelfer had had his way, U.S. companies and individuals would have been included, too. But he was overruled by CIA lawyers. The report instead lists some voucher recipients only as "U.S. person" and "U.S. company."

To read more about the selected coverup, go here:
http://www.johnmccrory.com/wrote.asp?this=452


Of course, the government controlled US Media overlooks the involvement of US Corporations.


Also here:
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11569

"The U.S. companies -- including Exxon Mobil Corp., ChevronTexaco Corp. and El Paso Corp. or their predecessors -- and individuals were identified in the Central Intelligence Agency's 1,000-page report on the Hussein regime's campaign, though their names were redacted from the publicly released version."

You may remember El Paso Corp. as the Enron front company that Kenny Boy Lay used to manipulate the Power Market in California to steal $BILLIONS.

You can bet that if the investigation into Oil for Food is being obstructed, you will find bush* friends and Republicans doing the obstructing.

Watch your favorite Media tonight to see if ANYONE mentions the US Involvement in this corruption.

[winston61]

3. Everybody knew about it

Do you actually think that companies like Halliburton (Dick who?) did not know about the kick backs in this program? Depsite what Fox news says there is no scandal because everyone including the U.S. was on the take from the get go. One of Annan's top aides resigned the UN because of the stink coming from this. Corruption is just part of the oil business, just a business expense.

[54anickel]

4. Hell yeah, Selling parts to Iraq was the main reason Hellaburnin bought

Dresser, asbestos problems and all. They had a pump division in France (Wayne?) along with the engineering division that makes up the K in KBR. They dumped the manufacturing part of Dresser exactly 2 years to the date of purchase to a venture capital company. Holding it for 2 years was part of the stipulation by the SEC.