JD
October 7th 04, 04:16 PM
You gotta wonder why the media isn't jumping on this.........
Saddam paid off French leaders
Saddam Hussein used a U.N. humanitarian program to pay $1.78 billion to
French government officials, businessmen and journalists in a bid to have
sanctions removed and U.S. policies opposed, according to a CIA report made
public yesterday.
The cash was part of $10.9 billion secretly skimmed from the U.N.
oil-for-food program, which was used by Iraq to buy military goods,
according to a 1,000-page report by the CIA-led Iraqi Survey Group.
According to a section of the report on Iraqi weapons procurement, the
survey group identified long-standing ties between Saddam and the French
government. One 1992 Iraqi intelligence service report revealed that Iraq's
ambassador to France paid $1 million to the French Socialist Party in 1988.
The CIA report stated that the Iraqi ambassador was instructed to "utilize
[the $1 million] to remind French Defense Minister Pierre Joxe indirectly
about Iraq's previous positions toward France, in general, and the French
Socialist party, in particular."
In the late 1990s, Iraq also used an oil-purchasing voucher system
through the U.N. oil-for-food program, which began in 1996 and ended in
2003, to influence the French to oppose U.S. initiatives at the United
Nations and to work to lift sanctions, the report stated.
The Iraqi Intelligence Service paid off French nationals by dispensing
vouchers that allowed the holders to make hundreds of thousands of dollars
in commissions by selling them to oil buyers.
The payoffs help explain why the French government, along with Russia and
China, opposed U.S. efforts in the United Nations in the months leading up
to the March 2003 invasion, U.S. officials said.
Iraqi intelligence agents also targeted French President Jacques Chirac,
by giving gifts to a spokesman, two of his aides and two French businessmen,
the report said.
One Iraqi intelligence report stated that a French politician assured
Saddam in a letter that France would use its veto in the U.N. Security
Council against any U.S. effort to attack Iraq.
Iraqi intelligence documents recovered in Iraq showed that the French
citizens linked to the influence operation were "ministers and politicians,
journalists and business people."
"These influential individuals often had little prior connection to the
oil industry and generally engaged European oil companies to lift the oil,
but were still in a position to extract a substantial profit for
themselves," the report said.
Former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz told the Survey Group that he
personally awarded several Frenchmen "substantial" oil allotments.
"According to Aziz, both parties understood that resale of the oil was
to be reciprocated through efforts to lift U.N. sanctions or through
opposition to American initiatives within the Security Council," the report
said.
The report named former French Interior Minister Charles Pascua as
getting a voucher for 11 million barrels of oil, and Patrick Maugein, who
received a voucher for 13 million barrels of oil. The report said Mr.
Maugein, the chief executive officer of the SOCO oil company, was a
"conduit" to Mr. Chirac.
Michel Grimard, the founder of the French-Iraqi Export Club, received a
voucher for 5.5 million barrels, and the Iraqi-French Friendship Society
received vouchers for more than 10 million barrels.
French oil companies Total and SOCAP were granted vouchers for 105
million and 93 million barrels of oil, respectively.
The report stated that Iraq covertly purchased missiles and other
military goods from Russia, Belarus, China, North Korea and South Korea.
According to the report, illegal goods used in making weapons of mass
destruction were sold to Iraq by companies in Jordan, India, France, Italy,
Romania and Turkey.
Conventional arms also were sold to Iraq by China, Jordan, India, South
Korea, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Cyprus, Egypt, Lebanon, Georgia, France, Poland,
Syria, Belarus, North Korea, Yugoslavia, Yemen, Russia, Romania and the
Republic of China (Taiwan).
The report said Saddam's regime obtained $1.5 billion from U.N.
humanitarian contract kickbacks and $228.5 million in surcharges on
U.N.-approved oil sales.
Other oil smuggling provided the regime with $8 billion in cash outside
of U.N.-approved oil sales, the CIA report reveals.
Charles Duelfer, the director of the CIA survey group, told a
congressional hearing yesterday that a "sizable portion" of Saddam's cash
obtained from the oil-for-food program were diverted to the military,
specifically the government-run Military Industrial Commission.
"The funding for this organization, which had responsibility for many of
the past [weapons of mass destruction] programs, went from approximately
$7.8 million in 1998 to $350 million in 2001," Mr. Duelfer told the Senate
Armed Services Committee.
Mr. Duelfer said that during the period from 1998 to 2001, "many
military programs were carried out - including many involving the willing
export to Iraq of military items prohibited by the Security Council."
Saddam paid off French leaders
Saddam Hussein used a U.N. humanitarian program to pay $1.78 billion to
French government officials, businessmen and journalists in a bid to have
sanctions removed and U.S. policies opposed, according to a CIA report made
public yesterday.
The cash was part of $10.9 billion secretly skimmed from the U.N.
oil-for-food program, which was used by Iraq to buy military goods,
according to a 1,000-page report by the CIA-led Iraqi Survey Group.
According to a section of the report on Iraqi weapons procurement, the
survey group identified long-standing ties between Saddam and the French
government. One 1992 Iraqi intelligence service report revealed that Iraq's
ambassador to France paid $1 million to the French Socialist Party in 1988.
The CIA report stated that the Iraqi ambassador was instructed to "utilize
[the $1 million] to remind French Defense Minister Pierre Joxe indirectly
about Iraq's previous positions toward France, in general, and the French
Socialist party, in particular."
In the late 1990s, Iraq also used an oil-purchasing voucher system
through the U.N. oil-for-food program, which began in 1996 and ended in
2003, to influence the French to oppose U.S. initiatives at the United
Nations and to work to lift sanctions, the report stated.
The Iraqi Intelligence Service paid off French nationals by dispensing
vouchers that allowed the holders to make hundreds of thousands of dollars
in commissions by selling them to oil buyers.
The payoffs help explain why the French government, along with Russia and
China, opposed U.S. efforts in the United Nations in the months leading up
to the March 2003 invasion, U.S. officials said.
Iraqi intelligence agents also targeted French President Jacques Chirac,
by giving gifts to a spokesman, two of his aides and two French businessmen,
the report said.
One Iraqi intelligence report stated that a French politician assured
Saddam in a letter that France would use its veto in the U.N. Security
Council against any U.S. effort to attack Iraq.
Iraqi intelligence documents recovered in Iraq showed that the French
citizens linked to the influence operation were "ministers and politicians,
journalists and business people."
"These influential individuals often had little prior connection to the
oil industry and generally engaged European oil companies to lift the oil,
but were still in a position to extract a substantial profit for
themselves," the report said.
Former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz told the Survey Group that he
personally awarded several Frenchmen "substantial" oil allotments.
"According to Aziz, both parties understood that resale of the oil was
to be reciprocated through efforts to lift U.N. sanctions or through
opposition to American initiatives within the Security Council," the report
said.
The report named former French Interior Minister Charles Pascua as
getting a voucher for 11 million barrels of oil, and Patrick Maugein, who
received a voucher for 13 million barrels of oil. The report said Mr.
Maugein, the chief executive officer of the SOCO oil company, was a
"conduit" to Mr. Chirac.
Michel Grimard, the founder of the French-Iraqi Export Club, received a
voucher for 5.5 million barrels, and the Iraqi-French Friendship Society
received vouchers for more than 10 million barrels.
French oil companies Total and SOCAP were granted vouchers for 105
million and 93 million barrels of oil, respectively.
The report stated that Iraq covertly purchased missiles and other
military goods from Russia, Belarus, China, North Korea and South Korea.
According to the report, illegal goods used in making weapons of mass
destruction were sold to Iraq by companies in Jordan, India, France, Italy,
Romania and Turkey.
Conventional arms also were sold to Iraq by China, Jordan, India, South
Korea, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Cyprus, Egypt, Lebanon, Georgia, France, Poland,
Syria, Belarus, North Korea, Yugoslavia, Yemen, Russia, Romania and the
Republic of China (Taiwan).
The report said Saddam's regime obtained $1.5 billion from U.N.
humanitarian contract kickbacks and $228.5 million in surcharges on
U.N.-approved oil sales.
Other oil smuggling provided the regime with $8 billion in cash outside
of U.N.-approved oil sales, the CIA report reveals.
Charles Duelfer, the director of the CIA survey group, told a
congressional hearing yesterday that a "sizable portion" of Saddam's cash
obtained from the oil-for-food program were diverted to the military,
specifically the government-run Military Industrial Commission.
"The funding for this organization, which had responsibility for many of
the past [weapons of mass destruction] programs, went from approximately
$7.8 million in 1998 to $350 million in 2001," Mr. Duelfer told the Senate
Armed Services Committee.
Mr. Duelfer said that during the period from 1998 to 2001, "many
military programs were carried out - including many involving the willing
export to Iraq of military items prohibited by the Security Council."