The Sorensen Connection
James Bone
July 21, 2006
Times Online
Original Source: http://timesonline.typepad.com/un_eyes_only/2006/07/ted_sorensen_do.html#more

You thought that diplomats drafted Security Council resolutions, didn't you? How naive. In the case of the Oil-For-Food programme, an early draft came from Camelot icon Theodore Ted Sorensen - then on retainer for a now-confessed frontman for Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
Compare Sorensen's draft of April 9, 1993 with the final result passed by the Security Council two years later, Resolution 986.
As President John F. Kennedy's speechwriter, Sorensen is credited with his famous line: Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. Soon after President Bill Clinton's Democratic Administration took over the White House from the Republicans in early 1993, Samir Vincent, then admittedly acting as an unregistered foreign agent for Iraq, came up with the idea of hiring him to draft a UN Oil-For-Food plan.
As court exhibits make clear, Vincent retained Sorensen in early April 1993 after discussing the idea with then UN secretary-general, Boutros Boutros Ghali. (See the final paragraph of the working paper that Vincent submitted to Boutros Ghali at their March 22, 1993 meeting.
Curiously, Sorensen's wife, Gillian, was hired as a UN special adviser by Boutros Ghali later that month. The official announcement, dated April 30, 1993, said Gillian Sorensen would serve an the overseer and coordinator on matters relating to the 50th anniversary of the United Nations in 1995, and will be responsible for special assignments as requested by the Secretary-General. She held the rank of under-secretary-general.
Gillian Sorensen vehemently denies any link between her husband being hired by Samir Vincent to work on Oil-For-Food and her appointment the very same month by Boutros Ghali. Absolutely none, she told me. I never heard of that man (Vincent). I have nothing to do with that. She says she was hired on her reputation from having served 12 1/2 years as New York City's commissioner for the UN and never handled Iraq.
According to Vincent's court testimony, it was Nizar Hamdoon, Iraq's UN ambassador, who first suggested Sorensen's name. I talked to Nizar Hamdoon and I asked him if he had any ideas, since he was in New York, of a well-known international attorney who could be hired to be outside counsel, Vincent said. When Sorensen's name came up, We thought he would be a perfect guy for this project, Vincent said.
Sorensen's original exchange of letters with Vincent protected him from any questions about acting for Iraq. At the Tongsun Park trial, Vincent testified that Sorensen drafted Vincent's original inquiry, written on the letterhead of Vincent's Pheonix International, which stated that Sorensen was not favorably inclined toward the Government of Iraq. The April 6, 1993 letter stated that Sorensen would not be required to engage in any lobbying. 
Sorensen responded in just three days with a 29-page missive that includes an early draft of what eventually became Resolution 986.  In essence, it almost addressed all the objections the Iraqis had, Vincent testified. Vincent recommended Iraq endorse Sorensen's proposals, which he had researched and discreetly investigated with both the UN and the US Administration re merits and probabilities. 
According to Vincent's testimony, Sorensen expressed intersted in the UN appointing him an outside counsel so he could deal directly with the Iraqis and not have to register as a foreign agent of Baghdad. Sorensen also noted that Park was apparently acting as a go-between for the UN and Iraq. When Vincent explained that Park is not competing with me, Sorensen said he does not want to have anything to do with Tongsun Park, Vincent testified.
The 1993 effort culminated in a meeting in Geneva between Boutros Ghali and Tariq Aziz. In a message allegedly sent by Boutros Ghali through Park ahead of the session, the UN chief warned Aziz not to fiddle with Sorensen's proposals. Sorensen's stuff will not hold water if they fool with it, Boutros Ghali allegedly told Park. However, if Aziz gives him Sorensen's 2-page letter and bring it with him then SG will accept it. But the Geneva meeting between Boutros Ghali and Aziz on June 22, 1993,  went badly. Vincent later complained to Sorensen that Aziz nurtured a dangerous dream that sanctions could be lifted entirely, obviating the need for an Oil-For-Food scheme. Sorensen agreed total sanctions lift was a fantasy. 
There was a lull in Vincent's contacts with Sorensen. But he ran into him by surprise in Amman, Jordan, in early 1994 aboard a private plane belonging to Texas oil baron (and upcoming Oil-For-Food defendant) Oscar Wyatt. Sorensen, who had just flown in from Macedonia, and Wyatt were apparently off to Turkey  to advise then prime minister Tansu Ciller how to get an exemption from the UN's Iraq sanctions under Article 50 of the UN Charter. (Vincent said Sorensen told Ciller not to mention the sanctions exemption to President Clinton on her forthcoming visit to Washington). Vincent testified that Sorensen had no idea Vincent was working for Wyatt - even though Wyatt paid Sorensen's legal bill (along with other expenses incurred by Vincent). Funny meeting you here, Vincent told Sorensen on the plane. Same to you, Sorensen replied. 
Vincent revived his connection with Sorensen in February 1996 - another crucial choke point, between the adoption of Resolution 986 and the Memorandum of Understanding between Iraq and the UN on its implementation. Sorensen prepared a new set of proposals and faxed a (now largely illegible) document to Vincent in Amman as he headed in to Baghdad, where Vincent struck a deal to be paid millions of dollars by Iraq (and left with $450,000 in cash). 
Sorensen, a familiar figure on the UN circuit, had a stroke four years ago, and can no longer see very well. But his wife says he is now writing his memoirs. We will have to wait until publication to see if he sheds any more light on Oil-For-Food. Until then, this first draft of history will have to do. At least the documents are now in the public domain.