Row over UN Oil Scandal

Mr Annan becomes embroiled in the oil-for-food scandal:

The US and Britain have rejected allegations by UN chief Kofi Annan that they turned a blind eye to oil smuggling by Saddam Hussein's regime. Mr Annan had suggested the two had inadequately policed UN sanctions against Iraq, enabling the regime to earn huge amounts in illegal deals.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the charges were "inaccurate", while Washington was also dismissive.

The UN has itself been under fire over the so-called oil-for-food programme. The $60bn (£32bn) programme allowed Saddam Hussein's Iraq to sell oil in order to buy civilian goods - including medicine - and therefore ease the impact of UN sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Actually, the bulk of the money Saddam Hussein made was from smuggling under the 'watchful' eyes of the Americans and British.

US Senate investigators have alleged that the Iraqi regime received some $4bn (£2.13bn) in illegal payments from oil companies involved in the programme.* But this figure is dwarfed by the $14bn (£7.5bn) that allegedly came from "sanctions-busting" - illegally selling oil to neighbouring states such as Jordan and Turkey.

"The bulk of the money that Saddam [Hussein] made came out of smuggling outside the oil-for-food programme, and it was on the American and British watch," Mr Annan said. Iraq made billions of dollars from illegal oil sales and bribes. He added, ". . . they were (US and Britain) the ones who knew exactly what was going on, and that the countries themselves decided to close their eyes to smuggling to Turkey and Jordan because they were allies."
--(edited from an article by the BBC)

*This leaves out the fact that the the oil company bribes came from corporations with very close ties to the administration, e.g. Chevron and other Texas based companies. It looks like the real scandal has come home to roost!

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