http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,134546,00.html

So amazing to me that CBS isn't covering this.

It'll blow open the entire election if it goes totally public don'tcha think? If the findings show that indeed China, France and Russia voted to keep Iraq's money into their pockets then they should lose their seats on the security council.....

Fandros

Fandros' link takes you to an article about the draft diatribes between Reps and Dems. This (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,134592,00.html) is the link to the oil for food article.

WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Tuesday against a bill to reinstate the military draft, a tool that had been used by Democrats to point out the inherent inequality of volunteer service.
Your title doesn't reflect this... BUT

I wish this would have passed. I like the idea of drafting rich fags, and see them skip country. It would be a great way to revoke US citizenship from some useless meatwads (we have a lot of those in the good ole USA). I, for one, am a veteran so I could comfortably look down my nose at those types of people. Oh wait the people that voted the bill out are just those kinds of people. USELESS MEATWADS. A fucking child could do a congressmans job.

Assuming the allegations have merit, I don't know that it'll affect our election so much as propagate even deeper distrust for the UN than is felt already in the US. While those countries perhaps should get booted from the security council (or at least have their permanent memberships revoked), is there actually a mechanism to do this?

Not really, otherwise they likely would have ganged up to punt the US from the security council by now.

I think to modify the setup requires a change to the overall charter which in my understanding requires a heavy majority of votes in the general assembly.

I expect we will see changes within a few years to give a few more countries permanent seats in the security council and possibly do away with the veto.

Sorry about the mislinking. /chuckle

It'll show the underlying reasons why the guilty parties didn't mind America footing the largest part of the bill to Quarenteen Saddam and his ilk.

It'll show why Bush and Co Finally said...fuck the UN it's time to make Iraq accountable...

It'll show that America isn't so corrupt eh?

And maybe, just maybe the rest of the world will quit throwing stones at us, from within their glass houses...

Fandros

The problem is that this is all after the fact. The primary justification for going to war with Iraq was Saddam's alleged development of stockpiles of WoMD. Rumsfeld crowed about it before the war, and Colin Powell spent his time before the UN pointing at photographic evidence for WoMD (I remember watching that presentation waiting eagerly for the smoking gun and being very disappointed when it failed to materialize).

Charles Duelfer has spent 9 months looking for WoMD since replacing David Kay, who found nothing and said there was nothing. From the Washington Post:
The government's most definitive account of Iraq's arms programs, to be released today, will show that Saddam Hussein posed a diminishing threat at the time the United States invaded and did not possess, or have concrete plans to develop, nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, U.S. officials said yesterday. The officials said that the 1,000-page report by Charles A. Duelfer, the chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq, concluded that Hussein had the desire but not the means to produce unconventional weapons that could threaten his neighbors or the West. No one's saying that Saddam didn't suck, or that he didn't break rules and rattle sabers. But the pretext for war was that he was working on or possessed stockpiles of WoMD and that he was a major threat to the US, and it just wasn't so.


If the oil-for-food corruption charges are valid (and it wouldn't suprise me in the least if that was so), then the UN should take action against the responsible countries. But I somehow doubt anything will come of it.

It'll show that America isn't so corrupt eh?

Well, it may not prove that but it probably proves there is no honor amongst thieves.

Here is a more recent article. Interesting if true.

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20041007-123838-3146r.htm

Not really, otherwise they likely would have ganged up to punt the US from the security council by now

And watched the UN fold when the US withdraws?

In any case, Thormir, your article is completely wrong(which is ok, as they were just guessing and it hadn't been released yet).

The report specifically stated that he was in a position to restart his weapons programs and planned to do so as soon as sanctions were lifted. It stated, for example, that he had his facilities in such a state of readiness that he could restart production of mustard gas in 1(yes, o-n-e) day. Also, if you look deeper you see that the report was very incomplete..I believe they talked to something like 10 out of over 200 Iraqi scientists in the programs, with an even smaller percentage of sites inspected.

The real meat of the Duelfer report of course is the connections it makes to countries in both Oil for Food and other scandals, which it was able to investigate much more fully than WMD.

The newest bit(which I'm suprised no one has tacked on yet) is how France was still selling Iraq weapons just 3 weeks before the Coalition went in.


If the oil-for-food corruption charges are valid (and it wouldn't suprise me in the least if that was so), then the UN should take action against the responsible countries. But I somehow doubt anything will come of it.
It would also have to take action against itself, as the UN leadership was advised it was happening and they ignored it..which is just one more reason why nothing will probably ever come of it.

Punting *anyone* from the security council would collapse the UN, for good or ill.

Right now the only thing holding the UN together is its inability to make decisions.

Tragic.

Saddam = bad guy..... France, Germany, Russia = making money with bad guy.... someone needs to show the whole story.....

No Bise, like many real world events that could actually awaken them from their dreamy slumber I think you'll find liberals will ignore this one.

Never mind that it paints those indicated in this scandal in a negative light. Never mind that the liberals look to France etc etc as examples of greatness. Never mind that it shows why we were stonewalled in our efforts to wrap up Iraq.

Just keep looking at the purdy lights and focusing on W. when he stutters or mispeaks himself.

Cuz dat der iz d only realz infoz dey b kneedinz.

Fandros

'Never mind that the liberals look to France etc etc as examples of greatness.'

- ROFL!

As your roving reporter assigned to this case I felt ya'll would enjoy this latest link...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,135369,00.html

Fandros

So if I resume, we have a bunch of american medias flaming france with no proof of anything?

I m definitely shocked :p , I won't be able to sleep now, you mean guys :(

"no proof of anything"

/chuckle

Care to tell us how we're brainwashed over here again?

Maybe talk about censorship?