French, Russians were paid by Iraq

By: Travis Florio

Posted: 10/25/04

On April 14, 1995, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution that established the Oil For Food program. Designed as a humanitarian effort, the program allowed Iraq to sell billions of dollars worth of oil in exchange for food and other essential items.

In recent months however, the Oil For Food program has come under scrutiny, and officials connected to it have faced accusations of corruption. As it turns out, billions of dollars channeled into this program did not go toward feeding starving Iraqi children; the money went straight into the pockets of Saddam Hussein's brutal regime.

According to the Congressional Research Service, between 1996 and 2003 the program generated over $63 billion in revenue for the Iraqi regime. The Oil For Food program is also the largest United Nations program in the world, generating 15 times more capital than the annual UN budget, according to the Wall Street Journal.

You would think a program of this size would have been subject to some level of accountability, but it was not. Holding a canned-food fund-raiser on campus would probably make you subject to more scrutiny than receiving billions of dollars from Hussein in the form of oil contracts.

After Hussein successfully manipulated the good-natured program, he used profits generated from it to bribe countless government officials, primarily from France and Russia. That's odd; didn't France and Russia oppose ending the Oil For Food program and the war in Iraq?

When the United States tried to stop the abuses of the program, we were stonewalled in the UN by France, Russia and China, all who stood to gain tremendously from the corrupt program. There is even evidence Hussein paid off the UN administrator in charge of the program.

Now we are beginning to see the real reasons why France and Russia opposed the war. It just wasn't in their best interests economically. These selfish nations now have blood on their hands and the UN has a big black eye. After showing the rest of the world the UN does not intend to enforce its resolutions, a clear message has been sent to brutal dictators everywhere: do whatever the hell you want, as long as we get paid.

So it is not France, Germany or Russia who have taken the high road of diplomacy that they so righteously claim; the nations that opposed the war in Iraq had ulterior motives for doing so. So screw the French government, who gives a @#$! about what they think anyway? The United States is the noble one in this cause, led by President George W. Bush.

If Sen. John Kerry thinks he can get more support from these corrupt countries after claiming "wrong war, wrong place, wrong time," good luck. France and Germany have already stated they will not help with the war even if he is elected, so what the hell is he talking about?

If you support the troops and the war in Iraq, on Nov. 2 (Election Day) there is going to be a Bush rally/celebration party at 603 Adams St. All Bush supporters are welcome and the rally will run from 6 p.m. until however long it takes to declare Bush the winner.