Security Council Members include France, China, and Russia - all the guilty crooks and accessories to genocide and mass murder. The US and Britain complained approximately 40 times to deaf ears. Had the US voted against yet another stupid idiotic global policy (ie Kyoto) it would have been hated more.

Here is a collection of articles by the Kurds: http://www.puk.org/web/htm/news/nws/oil4food_un.html

-Rudey
--Europeans seem to be dirty, blood hungry, criminals and it's time to shame them

If they complained, why did they approved the contracts? Both countries have veto powers.

I assume it's because they didn't know much of what had happened until after and, more importantly, because the world hates the US and would not understand.

-Rudey

Either that, or the administration during the period didn't care. Every contract could be seen by the public. It doesnt take much to audit the contracts. Just send in the foresnic auditor for any of the big five accounting firm (minus Arthur Anderson), and they would have found out about it. Either way, the three men team who is investigating this shows that they are not going to hide from the charges. In case you are wondering, the three men are:

Paul Volcker, former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman.

Judge Richard Goldstone, the first prosecutor on the U.N. Balkan war crimes tribunal.

Mark Pieth, an expert on international bribery and money laundering.

These three men have impeccable reputations.

Political "capital" is an important concept. The cost of pursuing this would have been too high politically for the US. There are idiots out there who claim they're against the sanctions and hate the US and say we killed children - just imagine the backlash of eliminating the oil-for-food program.

And how many of the contracts by the UN get audited??

Reputations?? Reputations mean jack and that is a ridiculous statement.

-Rudey
--Expose the Europeans!!!

Reputation goes to credibility of the investigation. The three men are known for their independence.

I've met Judge Goldstone. He is a man of character. If he see something not right, he will say it. He is currently a judge at the South African Constitutional Court.

Paul Volcker, you should know who he is. From what I've read, he will also hold no punches.

As for Mark Pieth, he is a Swiss professor who specialised on international bribery and money laundering.

The three men has great reputation. And it will mean a lot when the reports come out. It will be detailed and honest.

As for auditing, I can tell you that every UN Agencies get audited every year. The auditor changes every year to maintain honesty. I don't know what happen in the Oil for Food, that is why this investigation will be started.

There was a decent article on the Post about how the investigation is being circumvented right now - including by the US so they can secure the UN presence in Iraq. I'd post a link, but I don't have access to the full pay archives because I generally think the Post is for people with 2nd grade reading levels.

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/nypost/r...ed+nations+oil

And everyone's reputation is great until it becomes soiled.

-Rudey

Is it the NY Post? I miss that paper. I love their sport section.

http://www.NYPost.com/

Enjoy. :cool:

Haha yeah. Their sports section was great wasn't it? Nobody outside of NY understands.

-Rudey

Hell yeah. I don't understand why NY Post just get rid of the other nonsense they do and just concentrate on sports. Used to wake up early to listen to WFAN. Is Imus still on? How about Mike and the Mad Dog?

http://wfan.com/imusinstantreplay/
http://wfan.com/chrismikeaudio/

Good stuff.

-Rudey

Thanks brother man. Now I have something to listen to while I work in the office.

Silent Majority
The New Republic

"The United States has expressed outrage at the U.N. oil-for-food scandal but has tried to defund the Governing Council's own examination of the problem so as not to make things awkward for U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi. If the United States thinks Iraqis will take more kindly to U.N. paternalism than American paternalism, they are mistaken. Many Shia and Kurds remember that Brahimi remained silent when, as undersecretary of the Arab League between 1984 and 1991, Saddam massacred tens of thousands of Shia and Kurds. And Iraqis have not forgotten U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's February 24, 1998, comment, "Can I trust Saddam Hussein? I think I can do business with him." Iraqis, like most other peoples, are prickly nationalists. After the handover, the Iraqi government must be able to conduct its own sovereign investigation of the United Nations and anyone else. "

*Michael Rubin served as a Coalition Provisional Authority political adviser between July 2003 and March 2004, and is now a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

-Rudey

Well an update on investigations into corruption and bribes in the UN (specifically Oil for Food, but on the whole as well).... the former head of CSIS (I guess you can say Canada's version of the CIA) has been apointed to lead the investigation.