Of course they did, he made mincemeat out of them and they have no defense against the truth. How much longer does this evil regime in Washington have left before the truth catches up with them.?

talk about LAND OF THE FREE..home of the brave?

It's amazing at how blatantly an omission this is, add this to ABCnews stating they're not going to cover Iraq anymore, it becomes apparent somebody don't want the US people to have all the facts.

Goto Senate Committee website
[img]http://www.geocities.com/dv8_2002/images/missingstatement.jpg[/img ]

Incase anyone would like to watch (the historic) moment again, checkout the link to the right on theBBC page http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4553601.stm

Oil for Food Programme: Myth and Reality
Ben Newman, Research Associate, UNA-UK



Myth
Reality

That the Independent Inquiry Committee (IIC) is not independent and does not have either the resources or the necessary powers to conduct a full, impartial and authoritative inquiry
The IIC has three members, a staff of 65 and a budget of US$30m for its core investigation. It is not part of the UN system and its staff are not UN staff. The three members of the Committee are: Paul Volcker (chair) – a former Chairman of the US Federal Reserve System; Judge Richard Goldstone – a former Justice of the South African Constitutional Court; and Mark Pieth – former head of the Economic and Organised Crime Unit in the Swiss Ministry of Justice. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has given the IIC access to all relevant UN records and information and has made it clear that all United Nations officials and personnel are expected to cooperate and make themselves available for interviews. Member states have been asked to cooperate with the IIC under the terms of Security Council Resolution 1538.

That the UN was responsible for controlling the Oil for Food Programme (OFFP)
The UN had administrative control of the OFFP. However, political and strategic control was exercised by the Security Council and in particular its Sanctions Committee (the 661 Committee). The 661 Committee (on which the US and the UK, along with other Security Council permanent members, had permanent representation and a veto) had the power to hold up any contract. The US and UK exercised this power on thousands of occasions, when concerned about the potential “dual use� of items that were being sold to the Iraqi regime.

That the UN never alerted the Security Council to price discrepancies (one of the means by which the Iraqi regime obtained illicit revenue)
In the 18 months prior to March 2003 UN officials warned the 661 Committee about 70 contracts that were potentially over-priced - but no contracts were held up or cancelled (whether by the US, UK or others) on the grounds of price discrepancy.

That illicit revenue, through the OFFP, amounted to a substantial proportion of the illicit revenue earned by the Saddam Hussein regime
Over the period from 1991 to 2003 the Saddam Hussein regime is estimated to have earned $10-11 billion of illicit revenue (ie revenue in contravention of the UN sanctions). Of that $10-11 billion, it is estimated that less than £2 billion (significant though that sum is) was earned in the form of surcharges and kickbacks through the OFFP. The vast majority of the regime’s illicit revenue (70-80%) was earned through smuggling outside the OFFP and outside the control of the UN.

That the UN failed to control smuggling into and out of Iraq
It had no remit (or military forces) to do so. In particular, prevention of oil smuggling by sea was the responsibility of a maritime task force under the control of the US navy.

That the US and UK were determined to prevent Saddam Hussein’s regime from earning illicit revenue
Smuggling by the Saddam Hussein regime to Turkey, Syria and Jordan was reluctantly condoned by permanent members of the UN Security Council (including the US and UK); it being regarded as necessary, in order to keep these countries (who would otherwise have been seriously damaged economically) supportive of the strategic objective of preventing Iraq from obtaining weapons of mass destruction.

That the OFFP failed even in its primary purpose of providing humanitarian aid to the Iraqi people
For 7 years the OFFP provided basic food rations to 27 million Iraqis; the average daily intake of calories jumped by 83%; child malnutrition was halved; and the mortality rate of children under the age of 5 plummeted.