UN Told of Weaknesses in U.S. Handling of Iraqi Oil
By Irwin Arieff, UNITED NATIONS (Reuters)
This adolescent pettiness would be amusing were it not for the fact these suits wield so much power and cash in the world.
To make it short and sweet, the UN-idiots decided to do a little audit on the US handling of the Iraqi oil and money from such since the fall of Saddam.
Let's get to the nitty gritty quickly, shall we? In the world of new journalism, that means you start from the last paragraph, and work your way up. This, indeed, is just the case. The last paragraph states:
"We will be asking for more information -- not that we feel there is anything wrong, necessarily," Brazilian Ambassador Ronaldo Mota Sardenberg told reporters.
Evidently they've discovered that there were problems "tracking how much oil was produced and how the proceeds were spent, and how noncompetitive contracts were awarded to Halliburton Co., formerly led by Vice President Dick Cheney".
More specifically:
The board has previously accused the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority of sloppily managing billions of dollars of Iraqi oil money and moving at a glacial pace to guard against corruption.
My first comment to such nonsense is a completely off topic. Do ya think someone ought to alert the Halliburton CEOs that they have a new name?
"Halliburton - the company formerly led by VP Dick Cheney".
The man hasn't worked there for years, but n'eer can the word "Halliburton" be uttered or typed without the obligatory mention of the Veep. There's going to be a big advertising expense, changing logos and advertising to incorporate this new name, bestowed so unceremoniously by the judgemental, anti-capitalist MSM. Perhaps changing to a wider logo to accommodate for all those extra words? Sniff...
And all this whining about "no competition" gets on my nerves. If the handful of other companies who are in the same business wanted to be in on the bidding, they should blame their governments for the lost opportunity. Contracts were rightly offered to companies based in countries who supported the US-Iraqi Coalition... not the whiners and shirkers. Wish the planet would just get over this and quit the Halliburton bashing.
But onward and upward. Back to the sibling wars. The UN doesn't suspect anything's wrong. Just that tracking was difficult, and monies not spent wisely.
Uh... heLLOOoo? News flash! It's GOVERNMENT! No one denies that if you want to waste money in inefficiency, hand the task over to government! So what's your point?
The point, which is really just a fly swat at the US, is an official UN "naaa naaaa na naaaaaa na". And because it is an opinion and not a fact, it is, predictably, found near the beginning of the story... Paragraph two, to be exact.
"These shortcomings (in the U.S. management) have to be kept in mind when we judge the management of other programs such as oil-for-food," said one council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Now here's a UN suit determined NOT to follow in the footsteps of Jan Egeland with his "stingy" remark. And just to cover his tracks further, there's a "condition of anonymity". to boot. And what is he saying?
Translation Mata style: Hey! Don't be jumpin' down our throat for the Oil For Food bit. You can't do sheeeeet either.
Wrongo chucko... there is a *big* difference between being an inefficient, lumbering, red tape heavy bureaucracy, (courtesy of our Congressmen) and arrogantly pulling off a corrupt, under-your-very-noses financial heist at the expense of the Iraqi people and the safety of the world.
The money absconded by UN officials and their int'l corporate buds was literally food out of the mouths of Iraqis. And if that's not bad enough, it also provided Saddam a way to circumvent sanctions and continue furtive development - laying the groundwork - of his WMD program for jumpstart after the sanctions were lifted... or were rendered completely useless because of the subterfuge.
But Colin Powell, no lame duck he in his final days on the job, threw the 2nd rate charges right back at the UN.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said this week Annan "will have to be held accountable for those management problems."
The board led by Halbwachs was created by the Security Council to watch over the stewardship of Iraq's natural resources during the U.S. civil administration of Iraq, which began in April 2003 and ended last June.
"naaaa naaaa na naaaa naaaa" back at 'cha, UN. Nice try boys, but that don't wash. Kofi has promised an "independent" investigation.
I can't wait...
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