Keeping it civil instead of returning to our dark ways

[Hank Chinaski]

I knew this shit would come out, and make clear how doltish Kerry's "global test" was. I think i speak for 70% of america when I say, I'm glad it didn't come out post-election to make people second guess what would have been a mistake in policy on Iraq.




http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,138617,00.html

Officials Double Saddam's Oil-for-Food Theft
NEW YORK — Saddam Hussein's regime made more than $21.3 billion in illegal revenue by subverting the U.N. Oil-for-Food program (search) through surcharges, kickbacks and smuggling oil — more than double previous estimates, according to congressional investigators.

The figures are based on troves of new documents obtained by an investigative panel of the Senate Committee on Government Affairs (search), which was presenting them at a hearing Monday in Washington. The documents illustrate how Iraqi officials, foreign companies and sometimes politicians allegedly contrived to funnel vast illicit gains to the Iraqi government.

The findings also reflect a growing understanding by investigators of the intricate schemes Saddam used to buy support abroad for a move to lift U.N. sanctions.

In one document, a letter obtained by investigators, Russian ultra-nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky (search) — who campaigned for the lifting of sanctions on Iraq — invites an oil company to negotiate a price for an oil allocation the Iraqi government awarded him.