Saddam Hussein was personally swiping billions from the UN Oil for Food program. Says who? Some neocon warmonger’s rant? Some isolationist Dubya anti-UN screed? Nope — so says the UN itself — and officials knew about it, participated in it, and were “helpless” to stop it.
United Nations officials looked the other way as Saddam Hussein’s regime skimmed $2 billion to $3 billion in bribes and kickbacks from the U.N. Oil-for-Food Program, said U.N. officials who told ABCNEWS they were powerless to stop the massive graft.
“Everybody knew it, and those who were in a position to do something about it, were not doing anything,” said Benon Sevan, the executive director of the Office of Iraq Program. When asked if that included him, he told ABCNEWS, “I have no power.”
[…] To questions about whether there should have been intense scrutiny of the companies and evidence of wrongdoing, such as illegal money being funneled to Saddam, Sevan said, “We don’t do that. I’m sorry.”
Remember that, next time someone talks about how “US-backed” sanctions “bankrupted” Iraq.
Just another reason why we should withdrawal from the UN. They are completely inept. Stopping genocide in Rwanda – useless, stopping ethnic cleansing in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia – useless, stopping Saddam from laundering oil money – useless, bashing on the US for being tyrannical – give them a check mark.