What Is Going On Here!!!???

I find this fascinating!

What is the most important news story today?

Libby resigns after being indicted for lying?

NO!

Was it that after investigating the CIA leak, for two years, the only indictment they could come up with was Scooter Libby, and not for leaking info, only for lying during the investigation?

NOT EVEN CLOSE!

Oil-for-food report shows large-scale corruption?

How about that one?

YES!

This is insanity!

Part of the media's disporportionate coverage of Libby's indictment, is that they want to show that we went into the war for the wrong reason. I don't quite know how they've managed to work around to that, but whatever.

This is what John Kerry's campaign hinged on, we should be consulting the UN, and getting countries like France and Russia on our side.

Hey! Here's a thought, The UN, France, Russia and many others (including U.S. companies) didn't want us to go to war with Iraq, because it would screw up their deals with Saddam Hussein!

This is the biggest, most important news of today!

New York: In a scathing final report documenting massive corruption in the UN oil-forfood programme, investigators accused more than 2,200 companies and prominent politicians of colluding with Saddam Hussein’s regime to swindle the humanitarian operation of $US1.8 billion ($NZ2.57 billion).

The 623-page document exposed the global scope of a scam that allegedly involved such name-brand companies as Daimler-Chrysler and Siemens AG, as well as a former French UN ambassador, a firebrand British politician and the president of Italy’s Lombardi region.

It meticulously detailed how the $US64 billion programme became a cash cow for Saddam and more than half the companies participating in oil-for-food at the expense of Iraqis suffering under UN sanctions. It blamed shoddy UN management and the world’s most powerful nations for allowing the corruption to go on for years.

What I do want to emphasise is that the corruption of the programme by Saddam . . . could not have been nearly so pervasive had there been more disciplined management by the UN and its agencies, said Paul Volcker, a former US Federal Reserve chairman who led the investigation.

Mr Volcker and many nations said the report underscored the urgent need to reform the United Nations. Earlier reports in his investigation have already led to criminal inquiries and indictments in the United States, France and Switzerland, and Mr Volcker said his team would co-operate with legal and judicial authorities following up on the report.

The investigators found that companies and individuals from 66 countries paid illegal kickbacks using a variety of methods, and those paying illegal oil surcharges came from, or were registered in 40 countries, including Thailand, Malaysia, Russia, Belarus, Syria and Canada.

Most of the contracts went to Russian and French companies and individuals, who were rewarded for their governments’ outspoken opposition to the sanctions.

Anyone involved should be held to serious charges. They are responsible for helping Saddam Hussein skim $1.8 billion, yes BILLION, from the Iraqi people.

No WMD's?

Fine, we did it to liberate the Iraqi people from Hussein, oh yeah, and the rest of the world.