major scandal

January 29, 2004 10:01 AM

The Beneficiaries of Saddam's Oil Vouchers: The List of 270 (This is the first xlation I could find). The following report from MEMRI's Baghdad office is a translation of an article which appeared in the Iraqi daily Al-Mada, which obtained lists of 270 companies, organizations, and individuals awarded allocations (vouchers) of crude oil by Saddam Hussein's regime. The beneficiaries reside in 50 countries: 16 Arab, 17 European, 9 Asian, and the rest from sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. Only a portion of the 270 recipients are listed and identified.
posted by kablam (17 comments total)

Fourth, the issuing of vouchers by Saddam's regime may have served two primary purposes:

A: Payments in the form of bribes to individuals and organizations for their support of the regime.

B: Vouchers may have been issued to pay for goods and services that fell under U.N. Security Council sanctions and could not be financed under the "Oil for Food" program. Goods may have included military equipment or military parts, luxury automobiles that Saddam distributed as gifts inside and outside Iraq, and general luxury goods for the benefit of high-ranking officials in the Ba'ath party and government.

Most of this list probably falls under B. They had deals with everybody, including the US. Why would you assume that they were bribes?
posted by destro at 10:24 AM on January 29, 2004

To me, the most fascinating element is all of the vouchers that Saddam gave to Russia and Russian organizations. I remember the Pentagon confirming rumors that the Russians had been selling arms to the Iraqis, but the sheer amount of oil given to them is astounding.
posted by khirasaki at 10:35 AM on January 29, 2004

Destro, did you miss this part:

Fifth, the voucher recipients sold the vouchers to oil traders, who then collected the oil against the vouchers from the Kirkuk-Banias (Syria) pipeline terminal, which was operating in contravention of the Security Council sanctions. The pipeline carried 200,000 barrels per day of Iraqi oil, which benefited Syria greatly.
posted by techgnollogic at 10:44 AM on January 29, 2004

So they're not *all* bribes, some of them are payment for goods and services banned by UN Sanctions.
posted by techgnollogic at 10:48 AM on January 29, 2004

UK MP George Galloway got a million barrels and he would likely have supported Saddam anyway, so perhaps you should think of some of the payments as heartfelt thanks from Saddam.
posted by biffa at 11:04 AM on January 29, 2004

If you got a million barrels of oil, what in the world would you use it for?
posted by RobbieFal at 11:08 AM on January 29, 2004

that going to the case of MP Galloway. I'm sure if you were a country, you'd put it to use.

But, being just one person and all.
posted by RobbieFal at 11:16 AM on January 29, 2004

If you got a million barrels of oil, what in the world would you use it for?

For selling on the commodities exchange for roughly $25 million.
posted by Mick at 11:18 AM on January 29, 2004

wow, 8 posts and no one has taken this to MetaTalk to call for a ban on any more Iraq posts yet?
posted by badstone at 11:26 AM on January 29, 2004

Talk about dirty money.
posted by tiamat at 11:44 AM on January 29, 2004

If you got a million barrels of oil, what in the world would you use it for?

My bike's chain needs greasing.
posted by kaibutsu at 11:50 AM on January 29, 2004

wow, 8 posts and no one has taken this to MetaTalk to call for a ban on any more Iraq posts yet?

Must be that its a really interesting post then.
posted by Fupped Duck at 11:50 AM on January 29, 2004

And nobody has pointed out that this is from MEMRI and not reliable? When I cited to Healing Iraq one time (Zeyad's blog) it was immediately pointed out that he's got to be a zionist infiltrator because he linked to MEMRI.

So let me get this straight. The BBC is shown to be liars, those against the war with Iraq are shown to have been bribed, and a suicide bomber blew himself up in Jerusalem because the fence isn't done yet.

Hmm. I'll let Roger Simon take it from here.
posted by swerdloff at 11:54 AM on January 29, 2004

And nobody has pointed out that this is from MEMRI and not reliable?

Reuters is sourcing it from Baghdad, so presumably the article in question exists. Whether or not the list is a forgery, or if it is accurate is another question entirely.

MEMRI definitely has an agenda, and selects its translations with a mind to furthering that agenda, but I have never heard anyone back up accusations of falsehood against them.

Sure, their translations make the mainstream Arab media look bad, but its not like they need a whole lot of help there.
posted by ednopantz at 12:07 PM on January 29, 2004

Between this and the Hutton report, my schadenfreude has been running high for the past couple days.
posted by jammer at 12:26 PM on January 29, 2004

It's been well known that Iraq was selling oil outside of the Oil for Food Programme. Well known for the last ten years.

But where is the bribe? No evidence. This is being used to back up the recent fake accusations by the Moonie-owned Washington Times and a five minute Drudge Report post that France was bribed by Iraq. There's no evidence of it.
posted by destro at 1:04 PM on January 29, 2004

UK MP George Galloway got a million barrels and he would likely have supported Saddam anyway, so perhaps you should think of some of the payments as heartfelt thanks from Saddam.

I think the word you're missing is 'allegedly'.
posted by niceness at 2:31 PM on January 29, 2004