Oil for Influence
A U.S. citizen pleads guilty to being an agent of Saddam Hussein.

January 23, 2005
Wall Street Journal
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110006195

The United Nations Oil for Food scandal continues to effloresce, moving last week into the criminal realm. Iraqi-American Samir Vincent's guilty plea shows that Saddam Hussein was indeed exploiting the program to buy influence around the world--including in the U.S.--and suggests there is far more to be uncovered. 
Mr. Vincent pleaded guilty Tuesday in Federal District Court in New York to acting as an unregistered foreign agent for Saddam's Iraq and to related conspiracy and tax-evasion charges. According to the charge sheet prepared by U.S. Attorney David Kelley, he consulted with and repeatedly received direction from the Government of Iraq in the course of lobbying officials of the United States Government and the United Nations. For his efforts, Mr. Vincent confesses, he was personally awarded five separate oil allocations worth millions of dollars under Oil for Food. He faces potential penalties of up to 28 years in prison. 
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So, precisely what services did Saddam Hussein deem that valuable? A full answer likely will have to wait for what U.S. Attorney Kelley tells us is an ongoing investigation--in which Mr. Vincent has agreed to cooperate--to further its course. But the charge sheet refers tantalizingly to efforts by Mr. Vincent and unnamed others including United Nations officials . . . to secure terms favorable to Iraq in connection with the adoption and implementation of [Security Council] Resolution 986, which created the Oil for Food program. That suggests Saddam understood from the start that Oil for Food was a chance to evade U.N. sanctions and prop up his regime. 
The charge sheet also describes what appear to be extensive lobbying efforts over many years involving former officials of the United States Government who maintained close contacts to high-ranking members of both the Clinton and Bush Administrations in an effort to fully repeal sanctions. Vincent reported the results of those consultations to the Iraqi Intelligence Service, the charges state. 
Like any good prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Kelley refuses to speculate on the next steps in his investigation. But another American whose name has surfaced in connection with Oil for Food is Detroit-area businessman Shakir al-Khafaji. Like Mr. Vincent, Mr. Khafaji appeared on lists of individuals alleged to have received oil allocations from Saddam. 
As our Robert Pollock reported last March based on information from an Iraqi intelligence source, those oil vouchers may have been similarly intended as part of an influence-buying campaign here in the U.S. Mr. Khafaji financed an anti-sanctions documentary by former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter, and he brought a Congressional delegation headed by former House Minority Whip David Bonior to Iraq, among other activities. A third American alleged to have received oil vouchers is Texas tycoon Oscar Wyatt, a longtime acquaintance of Saddam who opposed the first Gulf War. 
Saddam's influence-buying was ineffective when it came to the U.S. But remember that prior to 9/11 and President Bush's decision to promote democracy in the Middle East, there was a growing consensus in the U.S. foreign policy establishment in favor of smart (i.e., relaxed) sanctions on Iraq. We'd be curious to know if the smart sanctions proponents were among Mr. Vincent's associates. 
And of course Saddam's buy-them-off strategy was far more extensive--and arguably successful--as regards the rest of the world. Why did France, Russia and the U.N. Security Council refuse to approve force despite Saddam's flagrant violation of 17 different resolutions? Last week's news makes it still harder to claim with a straight face that this type of corruption, or at least fear of its exposure, had nothing to do with the refusal to oust Saddam. 
The Oil for Food scandal is at its roots about whether the current U.N.-centric global security architecture is hopelessly vulnerable to corruption or can be trusted to perform. That's why every serious internationalist should be paying close attention to investigations like Mr. Kelley's and that of the U.N. panel led by Paul Volcker. 
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