The Iraqi government has served a number of foreign companies with a $10BN civil lawsuit. The companies, including Daimler, Siemens and B. Braun are accused of colluding with Saddam Hussein.
The lawsuit describes the kick backs etc involved in the United Nation's food-for-oil program in Iraq as "the largest financial fraud in human history."
The lawsuit has been filed in the US federal court in New York, and alleges that 2,200 companies from 66 countries paid a total of $1.8BN in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime in exchange for supply deals.
Quote:
"Its impact on the people of Iraq when far beyond financial loss.
The corruption of the OFFP (oil-for-food program) affected the very lives and health of the Iraqi people."
Daimler allegedly sold Mercedes trucks and spare parts to the Iraqi government. The A UN-sponsored report by Paul Volcker claims that an area manager at Daimler agreed in 2001 to pay a 10% kickback on a deal to sell an armoured van to Iraq, at an inflated price.
Daimler maintained at the time that it did not knowingly pay kickbacks.
Siemens has been accused of paying a six-figure sum as a bribe to the regime, to secure energy and medical-equipment contracts.
Chickens are coming home to roost!
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Monday, July 07, 2008
Yellowcake Goes To Canada
550 metric tonnes of yellowcake (concentrated natural uranium), the last vestige of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program, arrived in Canada on Saturday.
The shipment removed the risk of it being used by insurgents and smugglers crossing to Iran.
Yellowcake can be enriched for use in reactors and, at higher levels, nuclear weapons using sophisticated equipment.
The shipment removed the risk of it being used by insurgents and smugglers crossing to Iran.
Yellowcake can be enriched for use in reactors and, at higher levels, nuclear weapons using sophisticated equipment.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Police Seize Boris's Cigar case
The British police have confirmed that they are examining an Iraqi cigar case belonging to London mayor Boris Johnson, in order to determine whether it is a looted Iraqi artifact. Johnson handed over the case on Monday.
Johnson took the case in 2003 from the bombed-out home of former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz.
Johnson was then working as a journalist, and had been taken to Aziz's ransacked villa. He is quoted in The Daily Telegraph:
"And there, just by my toe, protruding from beneath a piece of dusty plywood, was the cigar case.....the circumstances in which I came by this object were so morally ambiguous that I cannot quite think of it as theft."
He added, rather ruefully:
"Well, I suppose we should be grateful for one thing, it seems that a Western politician is finally going to pay the price for his involvement in the Iraq war."
Much a do about nothing!
Johnson took the case in 2003 from the bombed-out home of former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz.
Johnson was then working as a journalist, and had been taken to Aziz's ransacked villa. He is quoted in The Daily Telegraph:
"And there, just by my toe, protruding from beneath a piece of dusty plywood, was the cigar case.....the circumstances in which I came by this object were so morally ambiguous that I cannot quite think of it as theft."
He added, rather ruefully:
"Well, I suppose we should be grateful for one thing, it seems that a Western politician is finally going to pay the price for his involvement in the Iraq war."
Much a do about nothing!
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Lara Logan Slams Iraq Coverage
Lara Logan of CBS puts the boot into the lamentable US media coverage of the Iraq occupation.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Bush Regrets Rhetoric, Not The War
As per the Chicago Tribune
Reporter: "Do you actually just regret your war rhetoric, or do you regret having gone to war with Iraq?"
"I don't regret it at all," Bush replied. "Removing Saddam Hussein made the world a safer place."
"The guy said, 'Now what could you do over?' " Bush said of the Times interviewer. "First of all, you don't get to do things over in my line of work. But I could have used better rhetoric to indicate that, one, we tried to exhaust the diplomacy in Iraq; two, that I don't like war."
The president told French television in an interview taped before his arrival in Paris last week: "Sometimes my rhetoric was a little—was misunderstood. I mean, I can remember saying, you know, 'dead or alive,' which sent ... signals that could be easily misinterpreted."
All very well, but in this world it's actions not words that count.
Reporter: "Do you actually just regret your war rhetoric, or do you regret having gone to war with Iraq?"
"I don't regret it at all," Bush replied. "Removing Saddam Hussein made the world a safer place."
"The guy said, 'Now what could you do over?' " Bush said of the Times interviewer. "First of all, you don't get to do things over in my line of work. But I could have used better rhetoric to indicate that, one, we tried to exhaust the diplomacy in Iraq; two, that I don't like war."
The president told French television in an interview taped before his arrival in Paris last week: "Sometimes my rhetoric was a little—was misunderstood. I mean, I can remember saying, you know, 'dead or alive,' which sent ... signals that could be easily misinterpreted."
All very well, but in this world it's actions not words that count.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Fifth Trial
The fifth trial by the Iraqi High Tribunal begins July 21, this trial will cover the 1999 assassination of Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr.
Among the defendants are former Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and Ali Hassan al-Majid, aka "Chemical Ali."
Aziz, Majid and six other co-defendants currently face charges in the Iraqi High Tribunal on war crimes for the execution of 42 businessmen in 1992.
Among the defendants are former Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and Ali Hassan al-Majid, aka "Chemical Ali."
Aziz, Majid and six other co-defendants currently face charges in the Iraqi High Tribunal on war crimes for the execution of 42 businessmen in 1992.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Bush Aide Blasts Bush and Media
Scott McClellan, the former White House press secretary, is to publish a book next week highly critical of The Whitehouse's Iraq venture.
McClellan resigned from the White House on April 19, 2006, after nearly three years as Bush's press secretary.
In "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception" McClellan says that President Bush failed to be "open and forthright on Iraq" and relied on "propaganda" to sell the war.
McClellan claims that Bush and his aides "confused the propaganda campaign with the high level of candor and honesty so fundamentally needed to build and then sustain public support during a time of war."
McClellan also accuses the media of being "probably too deferential to the White House" when it came to public discourse over the choice to invade Iraq.
Adding:
"The collapse of the administration's rationales for war, which became apparent months after our invasion, should never have come as such a surprise...
In this case, the 'liberal media' didn't live up to its reputation. If it had, the country would have been better served."
McClellan resigned from the White House on April 19, 2006, after nearly three years as Bush's press secretary.
In "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception" McClellan says that President Bush failed to be "open and forthright on Iraq" and relied on "propaganda" to sell the war.
McClellan claims that Bush and his aides "confused the propaganda campaign with the high level of candor and honesty so fundamentally needed to build and then sustain public support during a time of war."
McClellan also accuses the media of being "probably too deferential to the White House" when it came to public discourse over the choice to invade Iraq.
Adding:
"The collapse of the administration's rationales for war, which became apparent months after our invasion, should never have come as such a surprise...
In this case, the 'liberal media' didn't live up to its reputation. If it had, the country would have been better served."
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Restraint Urged
Judge Rauf Abdel-Rashid, at the trial of the former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, called on all parties involved in the case yesterday to show self-restraint and maintain professional behaviour during the trial.
Judge Rauf Abdel-Rashid urged the legal teams, defendants and plaintiffs to refrain from mutual abuse and show appropriate behaviour in court.
On Sunday, there were sharp exchanges between Aziz and one of the witnesses, Mahir Rashid.
Rashid said his brother, one of the executed traders, had been killed on the instigation of Aziz's son, who was involved in trading in foreign currencies and saw his brother as a threatening competitor.
Aziz dismissed the accusations and insults were traded.
The trial continues.
Judge Rauf Abdel-Rashid urged the legal teams, defendants and plaintiffs to refrain from mutual abuse and show appropriate behaviour in court.
On Sunday, there were sharp exchanges between Aziz and one of the witnesses, Mahir Rashid.
Rashid said his brother, one of the executed traders, had been killed on the instigation of Aziz's son, who was involved in trading in foreign currencies and saw his brother as a threatening competitor.
Aziz dismissed the accusations and insults were traded.
The trial continues.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Aziz Stands Trial
The trial of Saddam's former Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq Aziz, and his seven co defendants resumed yesterday in Baghdad.
They are on trial for their alleged roles in the execution of 42 merchants in 1992.
Aziz appeared or himself, without legal representation, as his lawyers have not been granted visas.
Aziz told the court that the trial was based on personal revenge:
"Focusing on the membership of the Revolutionary Command Council means revenge. I know it is a personal revenge."
A guilty verdict carries the death penalty.
They are on trial for their alleged roles in the execution of 42 merchants in 1992.
Aziz appeared or himself, without legal representation, as his lawyers have not been granted visas.
Aziz told the court that the trial was based on personal revenge:
"Focusing on the membership of the Revolutionary Command Council means revenge. I know it is a personal revenge."
A guilty verdict carries the death penalty.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Aziz Due To Appear
Tariq Aziz, the former Iraqi deputy prime minister, is set to appear before the Iraqi High Tribunal tomorrow without the new legal team that he demanded three weeks ago.
Aziz faces charges linked to the execution of 42 Baghdad merchants in 1992.
He may now have to seek a new court date, or represent himself on Tuesday.
His son, Ziad Aziz, who is based in Amman has told the media that French lawyer Jacques Verges, four Italian lawyers and a French-Lebanese attorney will be unable to attend Tuesday's hearing in Baghdad because they have not received their visas.
Aziz faces charges linked to the execution of 42 Baghdad merchants in 1992.
He may now have to seek a new court date, or represent himself on Tuesday.
His son, Ziad Aziz, who is based in Amman has told the media that French lawyer Jacques Verges, four Italian lawyers and a French-Lebanese attorney will be unable to attend Tuesday's hearing in Baghdad because they have not received their visas.
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