Programme "pétrole Contre Nourriture"

[Chitah]

Apparemment, les auditions du Congrès ont commencé, la liste des personnalités est tout à fait intéressante:

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Two Oil-for-Food Hearings In Congress This Week

A relatively quiet week for terrorism hearings in the U.S. Congress coming up, dominated by two Oil-for-Food hearings. The long-scheduled hearing at the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has gathered the headlines with its focus on Saddam's use of OFF money to reward politicans and terrorist entities, with British MP George Galloway scheduled to testify. Claudia Rosett's latest column on that hearing says it all. But the House Energy & Commerce Committee's oversight subcommittee is holding an OFF hearing on Monday. John Fawcett, one of the leading counterterrorism investigators in the U.S., who has written a report on the OFF matter, will testify at that one. That subcommittee's press release on the hearing makes it clear that they are pursuing Saddam's efforts to influence French and Russian politicians, and names targets from Saddam's intel reports.

Here's a quote from the press release:

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Subsequent memoranda identify specific officials through whom Iraq hoped to improve its relations with France, including:

(1) former French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing;

(2) former Minister of the Interior Charles Pasqua;

(3) Jean-Pierre Chevènement, a former French Minister of Interior and Defenseand 2002 presidential candidate;

(4) Pierre Joxe, a former Minister of Interior and Defense;

(5) Jacques Delors, a former French Finance Minister; and

(6) French Parliamentarians Serge Matheiu and Roselyn Bachelot.

A March 11, 2002 memo also lists the names of individuals and businessmen through whom “we [iIS] will be able to approach the French President Jacques Chirac (the candidate for the French General Presidential elections, 2002) and the Russian President, Vladimir Putin,” including (1) Patrick Maugein, an oil trader; (2) Roselyn Bachelot; (3) Sergei Rudasev, chairman of the Russian Committee of Solidarity with Iraq; and (4) Boghos Akubov, former official in the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Trouvé via The Counterterrorism blog, vous y trouverez tous les liens vers le dossier de presse du Congrès sur cet affaire, des commentaires, etc…

Ca sent pas très bon, tout ça.

[Chitah]

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Report: Saddam Used Oil to Reward Russia

By KEN GUGGENHEIM, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 22 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Russian leaders received millions of dollars in Iraqi oil allocations from top representatives in

Saddam Hussein's former government in hopes of ending U.N. penalties against

Iraq, Senate investigators were told.

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Saddam's vice president, Taha Yasin Ramadan, told investigators that the allocations were "compensation for support," according to a report released Monday by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs investigations subcommittee.

Russia's foreign ministry declined comment on the report. It said it would be "unethical to make any statements" until a U.N.-appointed commission investigating the oil-for-food program releases its third and likely final report this summer.

The Senate investigators said their interviews and documents from the former Iraqi government add to evidence in previous probes linking Russian officials to abuses in the $64 billion U.N. program. It was designed to permit Saddam to sell some oil and use the proceeds to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian items.

Among the officials implicated are Alexander Voloshin, former chief of staff to President

Vladimir Putin, and ultranationalist Russian lawmaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky.

Mikhail Troyansky, deputy chief of Foreign Ministry's information department, said Russia has cooperated with the U.N. commission's investigation, which is led by former

Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.

The release of the Senate panel's findings precedes a hearing Tuesday on Saddam's use of oil vouchers to reward supporters. The vouchers allowed the bearer to buy Iraqi oil at cut-rate prices and could be sold for a profit. Saddam also demanded kickbacks from the oil transactions.

"This is the way Saddam used oil-for-food to line his own pocket and to curry political favor," said subcommittee chairman Norm Coleman, R-Minn.

Documents released by the panel last week claimed former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua and British politician George Galloway also accepted allocations, charges both men deny.

Galloway has said he would appear at Tuesday's hearing to defend himself, but Coleman said he had yet to contact the panel.

Coleman said he has not reached any conclusion about whether U.N. Secretary-General

Kofi Annan should have been aware of the abuses of vouchers, but the senator renewed his call for Annan to resign. "It's a matter of accountability," he said.

The latest report by the subcommittee deals with allocations given to Zhirinovsky, Voloshin and Sergey Issakov, an aide to Voloshin. Investigators said they interviewed 16 former Iraqi officials, but they identified only Ramadan and Tariq Aziz, the former deputy prime minister.

The report said the Russian Presidential Council, led by Voloshin, received allocations worth more than $16 million, according to Iraq's oil ministry.

The subcommittee said Zhirinovsky got allocations worth $8.7 million. On six occasions, investigators said, he sold allotments to the Texas oil company Bayoil, whose owner, David B. Chalmers, has been indicted on charges related to the oil-for-food scandal.

The panel's report said about 30 percent of the oil sold in the oil-for-food program was allocated to Russia, even though Russia is an oil-exporting country.

[Sous-Commandant Marco]

A mon avis, tout cela n'ira pas très loin. c'est encore un cas de l'hôpital qui se moque de la charité. Chirac et Poutine peuvent dormir sur leurs deux oreilles.

Parmi les entreprises qui ont le plus profité du programme oil-for-food figure Halliburton, sous la direction de Dick Cheney:

http://www.antiwar.com/orig/leopold.php?articleid=3767

Et puis le même Dick Cheney est impliqué dans un scandale de corruption au Nigeria, sur lequel la justice française enquête:

http://www.globalpolicy.org/nations/launde…3/1220heart.htm

Je suis prêt à parier que, si l'administration américaine allait trop loin dans l'implication des dirigeants français, cette petite affaire nigérianne réapparaîtrait au grand jour.

Il est tout de même intéressant de voir le projecteur soudainement braqué vers les activités occultes (et fort lucratives apparemment) des princes qui nous gouvernent.

[Etienne]

A propos, ce n'est guére suprenant pour Pasqua et Chevénement.

A propos, quels politiques fort peu sympathiques ont signé récemment un pétition pour la libération des "prisonniers politiques" en Irak dont Tarek Aziz, l'ex-vice-premier ministre de Saddam Hussien.

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George Galloway, député britannique, a lancé cette pétition pour la libération de Tarik Aziz et de TOUS LES PRISONNIERS POLITIQUES, en Irak. La pétition sera largement diffusée afin de recueillir le plus grand nombre de signatures de personnalités influentes. A la fin de l’année, la pétition sera adressée à l’ONU, au gouvernement britannique et au Congrès américain.   

Appel pour la libération de Tarik Aziz

Nous, les signataires, appelons à la libération de M. Tarik Aziz, Président de la Conférence de Bagdad, conférence qui coordonnait la campagne internationale contre les sanctions et la guerre contre l’Irak, que nous croyons être détenu par les forces d’occupation américaines, à l’aéroport de Bagdad. Il est soumis à des interrogatoires sans fin et cette détention permanente n’a aucune base légale légitime. Comme l’a déclaré Kofi Annan, Secrétaire Général de l’ONU, en septembre 2004, l’attaque contre l’Irak était illégale et il s’ensuit que l’arrestation et la détention ultérieure de M. Tarik Aziz sont tout aussi illégales. En conséquence, nous demandons la libération de Tarik Aziz et des milliers de prisonniers politiques détenus sans procès ou sans charges par les forces d’occupation américano-britanniques.

Parmi les signataires on trouve :

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2. Jean – Pierre Chevènement: Mayor of Belfort & Former French Minister of Interior, France

16. Didier Julia: French Member of Parliament &Vice - President of the French – Iraqi Parliamentary Friendship Group, France

18. Paul-Marie Couteaux: French Member of the European Parliament, Brussels

Ainsi qu'un certain nombre de chefs de gouvernement, et d'anciens chefs de gouvernements des pays du "monde arabe".

Voir ici : http://www.albasrah.net/maqalat/english/0405/AFI-nu-44.htm

[Chitah]

  Sous-Commandant Marco a dit :

Je suis prêt à parier que, si l'administration américaine allait trop loin dans l'implication des dirigeants français, cette petite affaire nigérianne réapparaîtrait au grand jour.

C'est un peu la même chose que pour la mairie de Paris, où le PS est étonnament silencieux alors qu'on pourrait s'attendre à ce qu'ils déclenchent une opération main propre depuis qu'ils l'on prise au RPR, que ce soit pour des motifs purement politiciens, ou même par simple honnêteté vis-à-vis des citoyens. :icon_mrgreen:

Si ils ne déclenchent rien, c'est parce qu'ils ont aussi les mains sales.

Je te tiens, tu me tiens….

[Taisei Yokusankai]

Je suis en train de regarder sur BBC World l'audition du MP britannque George Galloway devant le sénat et, jusqu'à maintenant, il s'est assez bien occuppé de l'accusation: il a éclaté la tête du président de la commission sur son bureau, il lui a arraché les cheveux et bouffer les yeux. Je sais pas si le pauvre gars va arriver à reprendre la main, mais si ça continue comme ça, il va falloir se poser des questions sur le sérieux des allégations.

[Sous-Commandant Marco]

  Taisei Yokusankai a dit :

Je suis en train de regarder sur BBC World l'audition du MP britannque George Galloway devant le sénat et, jusqu'à maintenant, il s'est assez bien occuppé de l'accusation. […]

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A ce sujet, voir:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4556113.stm

Un extrait rigolo:

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Meanwhile, a spokesman for Mr Galloway's Respect party told a press conference the document used by the Senate hearing was a forgery.

The spokesman said: "The actual first document, we don't know where it is, they don't know where it is and all they have is a photocopy handed over by an unnamed source."

Typographical analysis showed Mr Galloway's name was in a different typeface, a lighter shade and at a different angle to the rest of the document, he said.

The spokesman suggested Mr Galloway's name had been stuck to the bottom of the list, and the document photocopied.

He also cited testimony from an Iraqi who claimed he forged lists of people who profited from the oil for food scheme.

Si j'ai bien compris, l'accusation repose sur une photocopie de document qui pourrait avoir été trafiqué. On se demande bien qui aurait intérêt à salir ainsi des opposants connus à l'invasion de l'Irak.

[Taisei Yokusankai]

Je viens d'entendre ça:

"-Do you say evidence number 12 is a forgery?"

-Well, it's the first time I get to see it. The informations about me are fake.

-Fake or wrong?

-Wrong.

-So it's not a forgery…

-Well I can't tell unless I get to see the original, not a photocopy of a translation.

-You have a photocopy of the original attached to the translation.

-No, I have a green blur."

galloway a aussi qulifié les sénatuers de "schoolboy howlers". Tout ça est assez marrant.

[Antoninov]

En effet, le Galloway a eu des propos assez cinglants.

Il semble que jusqu'à présent, les seules "preuves" soit une liste de noms fournie par Chalabi et le témoignage de quelques prisonniers irakiens.

Aucune trace du pétrole ou de l'argent.

Galloway: I won Senate showdown

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"I am not now or ever been an oil trader and neither has anyone on my behalf. I have never seen a barrel of oil, owned one, bought one, sold one, and neither has anybody on my behalf," Galloway testified.

He also said he did not own a company that trades in oil.

"If you had any evidence of that I had ever engaged in any actual oil transaction, if you had any evidence that anybody ever gave me any money, it would be before the public and before this (committee today)," Galloway said.

Coleman, a former district attorney, told Galloway before his sworn testimony that "senior Iraqi officials have confirmed that you, in fact, received oil allocations and that the documents that identify you as an allocation recipient are valid."

Galloway challenged that accusation in his opening statement.

"Now, I know that standards have slipped over the last few years in Washington, but for a lawyer, you're remarkably cavalier with any idea of justice," he told Coleman.

(…)

"You have my name on lists provided to you… by the convicted bank robber and fraudster and con man Ahmed Chalabi, who many people, to their credit, in your country now realize played a decisive role in leading your country into the disaster in Iraq," Galloway told the panel.

Other allegations reportedly came from Iraqi detainees.

"In these circumstances, knowing what the world knows about how you treat prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison, in Bagram Air Base [Afghanistan], in Guantanamo Bay -- including, if I may say, British citizens being held in those places -- I'm not sure how much credibility anyone would put on anything you manage to get from a prisoner in those circumstances," he said.

[melodius]

He sure gave them Yanks a good ole-fashioned ass-whippin'.

[Antoninov]

  melodius a dit :

He sure gave them Yanks a good ole-fashioned ass-whippin'.

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Si tu jettes un oeil dans le bas de cette page:

A Conspiracy So Immense II

Dans le bas donc il y a la déclaration initiale de Galloway devant le panel, puis plus bas les premiers dialogues. C'est incroyable. Galloway crache son venin mais au final, tout ça ressemble plus à une querelle personnelle entre sénateurs…