The NY Times article linked above discusses how France, Russia and China continually prevented investigations that the UK and US wanted to initiate into the UN's Oil-for-Food program.
The information came from a briefing paper submitted to the Congressional committee that is investigating the systemic fraud in the UN program. Here is an excerpt:
The paper suggests that France, Russia and China blocked inquiries into Iraq's manipulation of the program because their companies "had much to gain from maintaining'' the status quo. "Their businesses made billions of dollars through their involvement with the Hussein regime and O.F.F.P.," the document states, using the initials for the program. No officials of the three governments could be reached for comment.
The paper also accuses the United Nations office charged with overseeing the program of having "pressed" contractors not to rigorously inspect Iraqi oil being sold and the foreign goods being bought. The program office, headed by Benan Sevan, who is also under investigation by a committee appointed by the United Nations, turned a blind eye to corruption charges, the paper says, because it apparently saw oil-for-food "strictly as a humanitarian program."
Captain Ed says if the US public realized how compromised the UN Security Council was when it voted on the US resolutions for force against Iraq (and when France and Russia said they would veto a resolution sanctioning military force against Saddam), the UN would be finished as a political force in the US. Maybe that's why the US press, with the exception of Claudia Rosett and Fox News, has done its damnedest to ignore the Oil-for-Food scandal. Now with the issue brought directly to Congress, the NY Times and the Mainstream Media cannot plead ignorance or "nonstory" anymore.
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