UN panel blasts US in Oil for Food audit

Iraq Oil-For-Food Audit to Be Released

By GERALD NADLER, Associated Press Writer

Mata Musing

Looks like the UN types have become skilled in the western tactic of "the best defense is a good offense". And oh yes, and don't forget to evoke the dreaded word of "Halliburton" as well.

The OFF program was in operation for 7 years. Yet this panel wants to complain about the CPA's "poor management" and lack of curbing "corruption quickly enough" in a 15 month period - all the while refusing to cooperate with the US investigation of UN officials' skimming funds from the same program to line their own pockets.

Let's see... CPA didn't stop corruption quickly enough vs UN not stopping OFF corruption *at all*, and doing their best to hide it to this day.

ummmm... what's wrong with this picture?

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UNITED NATIONS - A U.N. panel critical of how the U.S.-led coalition authority in Iraq (news -web sites) spent billions of dollars from the U.N. oil-for-food program and other sales of Iraqi oil will issue its report Monday, an official with the world body said.


The U.N. Security Council set up the Iraqi Development Fund to help the U.S. Coalition Provisional Authority administer Iraq. The CPA administered Iraq from March 20, 2003, invasion to its dissolution June 28, 2004, when it handed the reins to the Iraqi interimgovernment.

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A panel created by the Security Council — the International Advisory and Monitoring Board for Iraq — has accused the CPA of poorly managing Iraqi money and failing to stem corruption quickly enough.

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The auditing panel also said the CPA gave $1.8 billion to Halliburton, a Houston-based oil services conglomerate, in no-bid contracts. It also said the ruling coalition authority was unable to track the money coming in or going out.


The U.N. official, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, said the U.N. auditing panel will issue a report Monday.


The oil-for-food program, instituted to help Iraqis cope with
sanctions, began in December 1996 and ended in November.


In the program's seven years, Iraq exported $65 billion of oil and some $46 billion of that revenue went to the oil-for-food program. Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s government determined which goods it would buy, who would provide them
and who could buy Iraqi oil.