OIL FOR FOOD: THE U.N.’S ENRON? No, I think it’s bigger than that:

The oil-for-food program is no ordinary relief effort. Not only does it involve astronomical amounts of money, it also operates with alarming secrecy. Intended to ease the human cost of economic sanctions by letting Iraq sell oil and use the profits for staples like milk and medicine, the program has morphed into big business. Since its inception, the program has overseen more than $100 billion in contracts for oil exports and relief imports combined. . . .

Initially, all contracts were to be approved by the Security Council. Nonetheless, the program facilitated a string of business deals tilted heavily toward Saddam Hussein’s preferred trading partners, like Russia, France and, to a lesser extent, Syria. About a year ago, in the name of expediency, Mr. Annan was given direct authority to sign off on all goods not itemized on a special watch list. Yet shipments with Mr. Annan’s go-ahead have included so-called relief items such as “boats” and boat “accessories” from France and “sport supplies” from Lebanon (sports in Iraq having been the domain of Saddam’s Hussein’s sadistic elder son, Uday). . . .

And then there is this menacing list of countries that supplied “detergent”: Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Algeria, Yemen and Sudan. Maybe all that multisourced soap was just a terrific bargain for doing the laundry. But there is no way for any independent parties — including the citizens of Iraq, whose money was actually spent on the goods — to know.

Maybe we’ll find out more, from those Iraqi documents.