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01/28/2004 Archived Entry: "Anti-war nations 'took bribes' before war began"

Posted by steve @ 06:52 PM EST [Link]

I'M SHOCKED: The Iraqi governing council is looking into allegations that that dozens of politicians, including those from sturdy ally France, received bribes to support Saddam Hussein's regime.

The 46 individuals, companies and organisations inside and outside Iraq were given millions of barrels of oil, the documents show. Thousands of papers were looted from the State Oil Marketing Organisation after Baghdad fell to US forces on 9 April.

"I think the list is true," Naseer Chaderji, a Governing Council member, said. "I will demand an investigation. These people must be prosecuted." Rumours had circulated for months that documents implicating senior French individuals were about to surface. Such evidence would undermine the French position before the war when President Jacques Chirac staked out the moral high ground in opposing the invasion.

Although the list is news, I remember watching a news report about this early last year. The segment alleged that Switzerland was home to dozens of bank accounts where Iraqi money was funnelled to apologists of the Hussein dictatorship, proceeds from the sale of oil earmarked for the bribees.