21 Comments, 21 Threads

1. 1. Robert Crawford

   The name under “Spain” appears to be Jihad Ali Ballout, who is al’Jazeera’s manager of communications and media relations. We already know that some al’Jazeera staff were on Saddam’s payroll, so this is no big surprise.

   This link says that Ballout was “close to the Iraqi president for 30 years”.

   January 30, 2004 - 7:22 am   Link to this Comment

   

   
2. 2. Richard Aubrey

   The Palestinians didn’t seem to be all that lucky.

   BTW, when do we get Pyongyang’s list?

   January 30, 2004 - 7:57 am   Link to this Comment

   

   
3. 3. Anthony

   My only comment about the list is that the numbers of barrels seem very, very high. I have seen this explained that the recipients were not actually given the oil, but rather the commissions on the oil sales.

   Given that the capacity of the Syrian pipeline was about 200,000 barrels per day, that seems more likely.

   I still want more evidence though. Iraq was something of a medieval despotism under Hussein. It seems that people had a tendency to tell Hussein what he wanted to hear, while skimming off the profits. So it is possible that people in the oil ministry would skim the commissions, but tell Hussein they were being used to buy influence.

   January 30, 2004 - 8:14 am   Link to this Comment

   

   
4. 4. Bran

   January 29, 2004

   Did Irish Oil Concerns and Peace Campaigners Receive Saddam’s Bribes?

   Irelande:
   1 – Mr Riad El-Taher (11 million barrels)
   2- Afro Eastern (2 million barrels)”
   So Riad el-Taher, who allegedly received 11,000,000 barrels of oil from Saddam Hussein, was a shareholder of former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds’ Bula Oil Company while it was desperately awaiting Saddam’s signature on a lucrative oil exploration contract. And Riad el Taher, at the same time, as chairman of the Peace organization Friends Across Frontiers, was campaigning to have the Irish government ease Bula’s “foreign investment” into Iraq, and urging the Irish government to deny the US the same rights at Shannon airport that it provided to the USSR during the Cuban Missle Crisis.

   And what is Afro Eastern?

   So the other “Irish” entity allegedly receiving 2,000,000 barrels of oil in bribes from Saddam was allegedly giving him illicit kickbacks, helping him build his palaces.

   January 30, 2004 - 8:21 am   Link to this Comment

   

   
5. 5. Sissy Willis

   Re Shakir Alkhalaji, could his last name be a misspelling? An American businessman in googleland named Shakir Alkhafaji (with an f, not an l) produced Scott Ritter’s Iraq
   documentary,”In Shifting Sands.” Conspiracy theories, anyone?

   January 30, 2004 - 8:45 am   Link to this Comment

   

   
6. 6. aaron

   French connections are no suprise, especially given their irrational opposition to the war.

   Russia, being at the top of the list, isn’t much of a suprise either. Big global reach, lots of crime, access to communist networks, and large amounts of oil, but poor extraction capabilities.

   January 30, 2004 - 8:53 am   Link to this Comment

   

   
7. 7. Blackfive - The Paratrooper of Love

   With Friends Like These…

   Stephen Green has a run-down of Saddam Iraqi oil contracts by country and by person… Here’s a nice story about terrorists seeking asylum in Germany…these guys are part of the prisoner swap between Hezbullah and the Israelis. Via Instapundit, here’s

   January 30, 2004 - 9:18 am   Link to this Comment

   

   
8. 8. Edmund Burke

   Albert Reynolds is the same man who gave all Ireland’s state export credit insurance to one company (AIBP) to cover exports of one commodity (meat) to one single market (Iraq). No surprise to hear that Irish exporters can no longer get export credit insurance for risky markets, nor that the head of AIBP and Albert Reynolds are both very wealthy men.

   January 30, 2004 - 10:37 am   Link to this Comment

   

   
9. 9. Ryan

   I may be wrong, but it looks to me like Saddam was using the oil sales to pay the Russians for the armaments they were selling him under the table.

   January 30, 2004 - 10:57 am   Link to this Comment

   

   
10. 10. Anthony

    The MEMRI translation lists the two Americans as follows:

    “Samir Vincent received 10.5 million barrels. In 2000, Vincent, an Iraqi-born American citizen who has lived in the U.S. since 1958, organized a delegation of Iraqi religious leaders to visit the U.S. and meet with former president Jimmy Carter. Shaker Al-Khafaji,the pro-Saddam chairman of the 17th conference of Iraqi expatriates, received 1 million barrels. ”

    I again caution that I reserve judgment until some over evidence shows up.

    January 30, 2004 - 10:58 am   Link to this Comment

    

    
11. 11. TomB

    Anthony, you need to read the article:

    “Maugein, individually and through companies connected to him, received contracts for some 36 million barrels. Chirac’s office said it was unaware of Maugein’s deals, which Maugein told ABCNEWS are perfectly legal.

    He has admitted getting the contracts. How much more evidence do you need?

    January 30, 2004 - 11:08 am   Link to this Comment

    

    
12. 12. Anthony

    Tom:

    You are right. I only read the MEMRI translation, a poor translations of some French articles. I did not read the ABC News article.

    That said, it is possible the contracts were technically legal. Iraq was able to sell oil for food and medicine.

    There are two issues for me.

    1. The oil for food program was a farce. Iraq was claiming that and every increasing number of Iraqi children were dying due to sanctions, yet the program was in place, and Hussein was able to spend money on palaces.

    SO the first question is did these people know the money was not going toward food, as required by the UN.

    2. If the contracts were illegal, that means that a number of Americans, Canadians, Britons, Frenchmen, etc. where taking huge brides. That is a serious charge. For th Americans on the list, that is tantamount to treason (though I doubt it meets the legal definition of that term).

    I would want more evidence of wrongdoing.

    January 30, 2004 - 11:41 am   Link to this Comment

    

    
13. 13. Arnold

    Spelling is tricky, but you might want to catch the links at
    this post on my site, which has something on both of them. Actually, the link on the one you misssed is even more interesting.

    January 30, 2004 - 1:05 pm   Link to this Comment

    

    
14. 14. George Turner

    Shakir Alkhalaji just happened to have given Scott Ritter $400,000 to make a documentary about Iraq, described a pro-Saddam propaganda, as mentioned here in an old LA Times article.

    Here’s an interesting UK Telegraph article detailing the relationship and the making of Scott’s documentary.

    Here’s an interesting UK Telegraph article detailing the relationship and the making of Scott’s documentary.

    January 30, 2004 - 1:50 pm   Link to this Comment

    

    
15. 15. George Turner

    Oops. Preview is my friend. The blockquote from the LA Times article should’ve said

    With $400,000 from an Iraqi American businessman, Shakir Alkhafaji, he produced a documentary about Iraq, “In Shifting Sands,” which will also be the title of his next book.

    The Telegraph article relates how Tariq Aziz kept offering Scott money.

    January 30, 2004 - 1:52 pm   Link to this Comment

    

    
16. 16. Le blog de Polyscopique

    Pétrole contre amis

    Vous l’avez probablement déjà appris: Le Monde a rapporté que le journal irakien Al-Mada a publié une liste de personalités ayant été récompensées en barils de pétroles par Saddam Hu…

    January 30, 2004 - 6:37 pm   Link to this Comment

    

    
17. 17. JDB

    From what I read last night:

    Vincent appears to be a prominent Chaldean Catholic who came to the US from Iraq in 1958 to attend Boston College, became a star track athlete there (he’s a member of their Sports Hall of Fame/Class of ’62); ran for the Iraqi team in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

    He lobbied against sanctions for a number of years and was personal friends with former President Carter as well as Cardinal O’Connor of NY. It appears that Vincent was well known and well connected in the American Catholic sphere.

    There was a write up on him in a Catholic magazine called St. Anthony (2000) profiling his efforts as well as those of Voices in the Wilderness that I read via a CASI.co.uk page (Coalition Against Sanctions on Iraq).

    A lot of Christian dupes for a shill of the Great Saladin.

    Google Khafalji: Detroit, MI, businessman who put up $400,000 of Scott Ritter’s film costs.

    Google Arthur Millholland (Canada) and you find a depressingly familiar scenario–self-proclaimed humanitarian businessman secretly working for literal blood money.

    By the way; Bran above had a great synopsis of the Irish connection at Tim Blair’s. Good on yis, Bran!

    January 30, 2004 - 7:03 pm   Link to this Comment

    

    
18. 18. On The Third Hand

    This is going to be fun!

    Treasury Probes Saddam’s Oil PalsThe Treasury Department yesterday opened an investigation into Iraq’s growing oil bribery scandal, in which 270

    January 31, 2004 - 12:01 pm   Link to this Comment

    

    
19. 19. Dave F

    In S Africa, Tokyo Sexwale’s company said the deals were legitimate under the programme and the money went to the UN fund. It would be interesting to know if they can furnish the paper trail that authenticates that.

    I also understand that the listings suspected to be payoffs represent not the actual oil barrels, but commissions granted of about US50c per barrel.

    The list, on the basis of statements by those named, seems perfectly genuine; the issue is whether or not deals were kosher with the UN (and that is another can of worms). This story, with its explosive implications, seems to have gone rather quiet in mainstream media in the past couple of days. I have no idea why.

    February 2, 2004 - 3:20 am   Link to this Comment

    

    
20. 20. Jihad Ballout

    Jihad Ballout of Al Jazeera and Ali Ballout of the “Saddam Oil Coupons” fame are two entirely different people. A simple basic sheck would have indicated just that.

    Regards

    March 4, 2004 - 5:06 am   Link to this Comment

    

    
21. 21. Being American in T.O.

    Saddam’s Oil Voucher Gifts

    Jan. 30 – Stephen Green posts and has begun googling the Roll Call of Saddam’s alleged pay roll from the list on the ABC news website (Saddam’s Gifts.) (To answer an earlier question, ABC states the list is composed of…

    April 20, 2004 - 10:42 pm   Link to this Comment