Iraq Oil for food program - Unanswered Questions

[svero]

I've come across another one of these things where I hear two sides of the story and they're so opposed that one must simply be a lie, but I can't really verify it. The two statements are basically...

Sanctions have killed x million Iraqi children

and the defense one hears is...

Saddam has more money now than before the war thanks to the oil for food program but he squanders it all on weapons and palaces, therefor he's to blame for any deaths. (note : more money doesn't take into account though that the country is recovering from war... so more money may not necessarily mean enough money)

So I guess the first question is... Is it actually possible for Saddam to spend the oil for food money on palaces and other things or is that money in a controlled bank account? On the UN site it says 3/4 of that money is earmarked for humanitarian aid, and talks a little about how it's managed but doesn't really go into details about who manages it and so on.

Anyone have any info?

[aerocontrols]

The best source on this question I have seen is Matt Welch (http://www.reason.com/0203/fe.mw.the.shtml). And here. (http://mattwelch.com/NatPostSave/Sanctions.htm).

I don't know who would say that the oil for food program has given Saddam more money than ever before. It is quite true that he squanders money for palace-making and such.

He currently smuggles $500 million or so of oil out directly to Jordan through a pipeline that is not under UN authority. (Thus a violation of cease-fire terms - Jordan and Iraq are acting illegally here) He has also been caught smuggling

http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache:ABdnapJkAAIC:www.tnr.com/061801/rubin061801.html+%22Food+Fight%22+New+Republic&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

(google cache doesn't want to hot-link, and the non-cached version is subscription-only. If the link doesn't work, google for
"Food Fight" New Republic and select the first choice)

food through the Iranian border and Turkish border. No doubt he smuggles through the Syrian border as well, though it is unlikely that anyone would be onhand to 'catch' this activity.

Also in the above story, you'll see that the US Navy has turned back ships attempting to smuggle food out of Iraq. Saddam has shown he would much rather have cash for weapons than feed his people. Note that Welch, the author of the first two stories, criticizes the TNR story because it incompletely explains what portion of the non-Kurdish parts of Iraq receive from the oil-for-food monies.

MattJ

[svero]

>I don't know who would say that the oil for food program has
>given Saddam more money than ever before. It is quite true
>that he squanders money for palace-making and such.

Just so you know, it was then president Clinton who said that in an interview when he was asked about the effect of sanctions.

[aerocontrols]

Originally posted by svero
Just so you know, it was then president Clinton who said that in an interview when he was asked about the effect of sanctions.

Thanks.

If you're interested in researching the issue further, I thought I would add Matt Welch's (http://mattwelch.com/OJRsave/OJRsave/IraqSanctions.htm) excellent article he wrote as a resource for other journalists.

MattJ