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Originally Posted by Mojo_PeiPei
Hilarious.... The report out today, 21 billion dollars in kickbacks for Saddam from the Oil for Food program, 2x as much as they expected.
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What, no comments on this? Maybe more than a link should appear:
Hussein's illegal oil revenue put at $21.3 billion
'Staggering' violations of U.N. sanctions seen
By Pauline Jelinek and Desmond Butler
ASSOCIATED PRESS
November 16, 2004
WASHINGTON – Over more than a decade, Saddam Hussein's government raised more than $21.3 billion in illegal revenue by subverting U.N. sanctions against Iraq, including the humanitarian oil-for-food program, congressional investigators estimated yesterday.
That's double the $10 billion the Iraqi president previously was alleged to have siphoned off.
The earlier estimate included only the oil-for-food program. The new, higher number includes illicit profits from efforts like the illegal smuggling of oil in the years of sanctions that preceded the humanitarian program that began in 1996.
"The magnitude of fraud perpetrated by Saddam Hussein in contravention of U.N. sanctions and the oil-for-food program is staggering," Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., said yesterday as his Senate Government Affairs permanent subcommittee on investigations began a hearing on the matter.
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Of course, Saddam had to learn to survive Bill Clinton speaking very, very sternly about him.