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| WSJ UNSCAM: Drip, Drip, Drip |
| 2004-07-14 |
| WSJ Opinion Journal - EFL Doling for Dollar$ The numbers are numbing... BY CLAUDIA ROSETT - Wednesday, July 14, 2004 12:01 a.m. EDT Kofigate continues. Another stack of secret United Nations Oil for Food documents has now reached the press, this batch procured by congressional sources and providing--at long last--a better view of Saddam Hussein’s entire U.N.-approved shopping list. This huge roster of Oil for Food relief contracts fills in a few more of the vital details about Saddam’s "humanitarian" partnership with the U.N., spelling out the names of all his U.N.-approved relief suppliers and the price of every deal. We need no longer wonder which Russian company got the contracts, on the eve of war, in February 2003, to sell broadcasting gear to Saddam, or for how much. The U.N. list says Nord Star, from which Saddam--approved directly by Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s office, in the name of relief, in the thick of the U.N. debate over Iraq--ordered up $3.4 million worth of TV studio equipment. Or, if one wants to admire the versatility of Saddam’s Russian suppliers, it’s now clear it wasn’t just one Russian oil firm, Zarubezhneft, that made a sideline out of selling milk to Saddam. In late 2002, Russia’s Kalmyk Oil & Gas Co. did a deal to supply Iraq with $1 million worth of "instant full cream milk powder." And, if anyone has been wondering exactly which nameless Saudi supplier backed out of a $5 million contract to sell vegetable ghee to Iraq when the U.N., post-Saddam, began renegotiating a kickback surcharge of some 10% out of the remaining Oil for Food contracts, the name on the U.N. list is the Al Riyadh International Flower Co. (Which, by the way, turned up last year on a Pentagon list of Oil for Food suppliers overpaid by Saddam, with overpricing in Al Riyadh’s case estimated at about 20%, and total overpayment on three contracts estimated at $8.6 million.) ...more... Rosett is on the case. Whatever we learn, she’s the primary source, the one doing the digging. Thanks, Claudia! |
| Posted by:.com |
| #5 In late 2002, Russia’s Kalmyk Oil & Gas Co. did a deal to supply Iraq with $1 million worth of "instant full cream milk powder." Not to worry, in the finest Russian style, Kalmyk Oil & Gas' "full cream milk powder" was made entirely from petroleum distillates and their byproducts. As to why the White House isn't making more political hay over the Oil-for-Palaces scandal, one can only suppose that being brain dead is not a partisan affliction. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-07-14 2:53:10 PM |
| #4 ...and the Boston Globe, and the L.A. Times, and CNN, and MSNBC, and even the freakin' White House! The others I expect, but why the lack of balls from DC? |
| Posted by: Raj 2004-07-14 1:41:45 PM |
| #3 as has John F'n Kerry |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-07-14 10:29:35 AM |
| #2 Meanwhile, the Washington Post and NY Times have been very, very quiet on this. |
| Posted by: mhw 2004-07-14 9:18:19 AM |
| #1 William Satfire is also hot on the trail. But Claudia is like a pit bull on a bone. Definitely detail oriented. |
| Posted by: Capt America 2004-07-14 3:13:29 AM |