Iraq Oil-for-Food Program Funded al Qaeda

[soot]

In another thread (dealing with the current situation in Iraq) Travis007 made the following, in my opinion completely asinine, comment:

Oil for food shows us how the oil was being used for many years in the run up to 9/11 to fund terror... that was what GWB was truly fighting against .. that funding of terror that Clinton allowed and looked the other way..

I responded to a different comment he made about Saddam Hussein funding terror (through use of ill-gotten oil-for-food proceeds) by rolling my eyes and basically blowing him off.

He then responded to my single comment three separate times (why he couldn't pack all his nonsense into one reply I don't know, but I don't presume to fully understand crazy), but the nature of his replies was either ad hominem silliness or an apparent perplexity that I didn't know what the Oil-for-Food Scandal was.

He clearly mistook my incredulity over his claims that Saddam Hussein was using oil-for-food money to support al Qaeda for a complete ignorance of the Oil-for-Food Scandal.

At that point a moderator, rightly, stepped into the thread to direct the participants to get back on topic (the Iraq/ISIS/Iran/Kurd situation occurring today) rather than discussing everything and anything related to Iraq (which the thread was quickly becoming).

So to set the record straight, and to allow Travis007 to hold forth on the conspiracy theory that Saddam Hussein was using oil-for-food to fund 9/11, I created this new thread.

I don't know if he or any of our other neocon conspiracy theorists want to take a swing at this, but here it is...

Travis007, please prove that Saddam Hussein was using Oil-for-Food money to support al Qaeda.

 

[Travis007]

In another thread (dealing with the current situation in Iraq) Travis007 made the following, in my opinion completely asinine, comment:



I responded to a different comment he made about Saddam Hussein funding terror (through use of ill-gotten oil-for-food proceeds) by rolling my eyes and basically blowing him off.

He then responded to my single comment three separate times (why he couldn't pack all his nonsense into one reply I don't know, but I don't presume to fully understand crazy), but the nature of his replies was either ad hominem silliness or an apparent perplexity that I didn't know what the Oil-for-Food Scandal was.

He clearly mistook my incredulity over his claims that Saddam Hussein was using oil-for-food money to support al Qaeda for a complete ignorance of the Oil-for-Food Scandal.

At that point a moderator, rightly, stepped into the thread to direct the participants to get back on topic (the Iraq/ISIS/Iran/Kurd situation occurring today) rather than discussing everything and anything related to Iraq (which the thread was quickly becoming).

So to set the record straight, and to allow Travis007 to hold forth on the conspiracy theory that Saddam Hussein was using oil-for-food to fund 9/11, I created this new thread.

I don't know if he or any of our other neocon conspiracy theorists want to take a swing at this, but here it is...

Travis007, please prove that Saddam Hussein was using Oil-for-Food money to support al Qaeda.

what I found out is you have no idea on this subject..

Im not going to give a class on the subject..or how the banking nexus worked...

your game will be what "each terror cells name is.."... my point in that thread was MUCH LIKE THE WMDS..SYRIA and IRAQ had the same Baathist regimes and had an open border.. MUCH like Syria was the conduit for the illegal oil to be washed and banked..as CLINTON ALLOWED IT..

yea Saddam was using the illegal funds to "build parks and plant trees" LOL

we all saw your posts in the other thread..

what part is confusing?...

again Saddam FUNDED TERROR and ALLOWED AQ ACCESSS. and HAVEN.. to what extent can always be debated..

 

[soot]

what I found out is you have no idea on this subject..

Im not going to give a class on the subject..or how the banking nexus worked...

So basically you read some conspiracy theory nonsense suggestions on the FOX News website that suggested that because the money went missing and was basically unaccounted for it could have been used by Saddam to to support al Qaeda, and like a good little sheep whose mind is controlled by the pundits and the big government Republicans they serve you began bleating far and wide that it was used in that manner.

Got it.

No evidence, no proof, just a suggestion that you run around parroting because it allows you to use the word "nexus" because you think it sounds smart and convincing.

Pretty much what I suspected, but I figured I'd give you the benefit of the doubt.

But, I guess better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than open your mouth and prove it.

 

[Travis007]

Another thread in the oil-for-food scandal is unraveling, and this one shows the extent of Syrian involvement.

On Wednesday, officials from the State and Treasury departments and a former U.N. monitor who had tried to tighten the sanctions detailed in testimony before the House International Relations Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia how Syria funneled more than $3.4 billion in illicit oil money plus weaponry to the Iraqi dictator in the three years before his downfall. The highest levels of the Syrian government were involved. Given that the September 2004 Duelfer report estimated that Iraq earned about $5 billion in illicit oil sales in 2000-03, $3.4 billion would comprise more than two-thirds of the total, making Syria Iraq’s most egregiously eager partner.

The Iraq-Syria relationship apparently began in June 2000 when, amid a diplomatic thaw, Iraq and Syria reached a bilateral trade agreement in violation of U.N. sanctions. According to Dwight Sparlin of the Internal Revenue Service’s criminal division, that summer, the Iraqi State Oil Marketing Corporation arranged accounts with the Commercial Bank of Syria to handle funds generated from oil sales outside oil for food.

The Dutch firm Saybolt International BV, a U.N. contractor inspecting oil shipments, passed the U.N. rumors in November 2000 that a pipeline between Iraq and Syria capable of handling $1 billion of oil a year had reopened in violation of sanctions. Syria sought to conceal this, and in February 2001, when then-Secretary of State Colin Powell met with Syrian strongman Bashir Assad in Damascus, he was told three times that the pipeline would be brought under the U.N. sanctions regime. Meanwhile, in the 661 Committee, the U.N. group monitoring the oil for food program, Syrian officials stalled and misrepresented the pipeline’s use.

None of the Syrian claims were true. The pipeline became Syria’s primary means of funneling oil from Iraq for money, goods and services in flagrant violation of U.N. sanctions. This happened, as U.N. monitor Victor D. Comras put it scathingly in his testimony, because of “serious flaws in the program concept itself,” concluding that “much blame must also be placed on those responsible for its oversight, and those that sought to take advantage of the program for their own avarice, greed or narrow political interests.” Syria still has $262 million of Iraqi money, according to testimony given by Elizabeth Dibble of the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs.



Read more: Oil for food's Syrian connection - Washington Times
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

 

[Travis007]

So basically you read some conspiracy theory nonsense suggestions on the FOX News website that suggested that because the money went missing and was basically unaccounted for it could have been used by Saddam to to support al Qaeda, and like a good little sheep whose mind is controlled by the pundits and the big government Republicans they serve you began bleating far and wide that it was used in that manner.

Got it.

No evidence, no proof, just a suggestion that you run around parroting because it allows you to use the word "nexus" because you think it sounds smart and convincing.

Pretty much what I suspected, but I figured I'd give you the benefit of the doubt.

But, I guess better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than open your mouth and prove it.

You have nothing...at this point I have to ask if you know anything on the subject Im about to make you eat crow on..

 

[Travis007]

So basically you read some conspiracy theory nonsense suggestions on the FOX News website that suggested that because the money went missing and was basically unaccounted for it could have been used by Saddam to to support al Qaeda, and like a good little sheep whose mind is controlled by the pundits and the big government Republicans they serve you began bleating far and wide that it was used in that manner.

Got it.

No evidence, no proof, just a suggestion that you run around parroting because it allows you to use the word "nexus" because you think it sounds smart and convincing.

Pretty much what I suspected, but I figured I'd give you the benefit of the doubt.

But, I guess better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than open your mouth and prove it.

Another thread in the oil-for-food scandal is unraveling, and this one shows the extent of Syrian involvement.

On Wednesday, officials from the State and Treasury departments and a former U.N. monitor who had tried to tighten the sanctions detailed in testimony before the House International Relations Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia how Syria funneled more than $3.4 billion in illicit oil money plus weaponry to the Iraqi dictator in the three years before his downfall. The highest levels of the Syrian government were involved. Given that the September 2004 Duelfer report estimated that Iraq earned about $5 billion in illicit oil sales in 2000-03, $3.4 billion would comprise more than two-thirds of the total, making Syria Iraq’s most egregiously eager partner.

The Iraq-Syria relationship apparently began in June 2000 when, amid a diplomatic thaw, Iraq and Syria reached a bilateral trade agreement in violation of U.N. sanctions. According to Dwight Sparlin of the Internal Revenue Service’s criminal division, that summer, the Iraqi State Oil Marketing Corporation arranged accounts with the Commercial Bank of Syria to handle funds generated from oil sales outside oil for food.

The Dutch firm Saybolt International BV, a U.N. contractor inspecting oil shipments, passed the U.N. rumors in November 2000 that a pipeline between Iraq and Syria capable of handling $1 billion of oil a year had reopened in violation of sanctions. Syria sought to conceal this, and in February 2001, when then-Secretary of State Colin Powell met with Syrian strongman Bashir Assad in Damascus, he was told three times that the pipeline would be brought under the U.N. sanctions regime. Meanwhile, in the 661 Committee, the U.N. group monitoring the oil for food program, Syrian officials stalled and misrepresented the pipeline’s use.

None of the Syrian claims were true. The pipeline became Syria’s primary means of funneling oil from Iraq for money, goods and services in flagrant violation of U.N. sanctions. This happened, as U.N. monitor Victor D. Comras put it scathingly in his testimony, because of “serious flaws in the program concept itself,” concluding that “much blame must also be placed on those responsible for its oversight, and those that sought to take advantage of the program for their own avarice, greed or narrow political interests.” Syria still has $262 million of Iraqi money, according to testimony given by Elizabeth Dibble of the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs.



Read more: Oil for food's Syrian connection - Washington Times
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

 

[AJiveMan]

what I found out is you have no idea on this subject..

Im not going to give a class on the subject..or how the banking nexus worked...

your game will be what "each terror cells name is.."... my point in that thread was MUCH LIKE THE WMDS..SYRIA and IRAQ had the same Baathist regimes and had an open border.. MUCH like Syria was the conduit for the illegal oil to be washed and banked..as CLINTON ALLOWED IT..

yea Saddam was using the illegal funds to "build parks and plant trees" LOL

we all saw your posts in the other thread..

what part is confusing?...

again Saddam FUNDED TERROR and ALLOWED AQ ACCESSS. and HAVEN.. to what extent can always be debated..

Nope.

Exhaustive review finds no link between Saddam and al Qaida

Exhaustive review finds no link between Saddam and al Qaida | Washington | McClatchy DC

 

[Travis007]

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, formerly the director of an al Qaeda training base in Afghanistan, fled to Iraq after being injured as the Taliban fell. He received medical care and convalesced for two months in Baghdad. He then opened a terrorist training camp in northern Iraq and arranged the October 2002 assassination of U.S. diplomat Lawrence Foley in Amman, Jordan.

Ramzi Yousef, the Kuwaiti-born ringleader of the February 26, 1993 World Trade Center bombing plot, first arrived in the United States (on September 1, 1992) on an Iraqi passport.

Author Richard Miniter reported on September 25, 2003, that U.S. forces had discovered a cache of documents in Tikrit, Saddam's hometown, showing that Iraq had given both a house and a monthly salary to al Qaeda member Abdul Rahman Yasin, who was indicted for mixing the chemicals in the bomb that exploded beneath the World Trade Center in 1993.

Iraq-Terrorism Connection - Discover the Networks


People forget Larry Foley many times

 

[Travis007]

Nope.



Exhaustive review finds no link between Saddam and al Qaida | Washington | McClatchy DC

wrong..... color me shocked

 

[Travis007]

So basically you read some conspiracy theory nonsense suggestions on the FOX News website that suggested that because the money went missing and was basically unaccounted for it could have been used by Saddam to to support al Qaeda, and like a good little sheep whose mind is controlled by the pundits and the big government Republicans they serve you began bleating far and wide that it was used in that manner.

Got it.

No evidence, no proof, just a suggestion that you run around parroting because it allows you to use the word "nexus" because you think it sounds smart and convincing.

Pretty much what I suspected, but I figured I'd give you the benefit of the doubt.

But, I guess better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than open your mouth and prove it.

Your going to regret showing off your ignorance on this subject.. this is why I dismiss your posts as nonsense...

 

[Travis007]

anyone doubt where Saddams WMDs went now? we even have film of them going over the border..

that was my point in the other thread

 

[Travis007]

its an insult that this in conspiracy.. as ITS NOT

 

[AJiveMan]

wrong..... color me shocked

Produce your proof please. Then I might believe Hussein backed terror groups.

 

[soot]

Another thread in the oil-for-food scandal is unraveling, and this one shows the extent of Syrian involvement.

We're not talking about Syria in this thread.

We're demonstrating proof that Saddam Hussein used oil-for-food money to fund al Qaeda.

Better luck next time.

 

[Travis007]

In another thread (dealing with the current situation in Iraq) Travis007 made the following, in my opinion completely asinine, comment:



I responded to a different comment he made about Saddam Hussein funding terror (through use of ill-gotten oil-for-food proceeds) by rolling my eyes and basically blowing him off.

He then responded to my single comment three separate times (why he couldn't pack all his nonsense into one reply I don't know, but I don't presume to fully understand crazy), but the nature of his replies was either ad hominem silliness or an apparent perplexity that I didn't know what the Oil-for-Food Scandal was.

He clearly mistook my incredulity over his claims that Saddam Hussein was using oil-for-food money to support al Qaeda for a complete ignorance of the Oil-for-Food Scandal.

At that point a moderator, rightly, stepped into the thread to direct the participants to get back on topic (the Iraq/ISIS/Iran/Kurd situation occurring today) rather than discussing everything and anything related to Iraq (which the thread was quickly becoming).

So to set the record straight, and to allow Travis007 to hold forth on the conspiracy theory that Saddam Hussein was using oil-for-food to fund 9/11, I created this new thread.

I don't know if he or any of our other neocon conspiracy theorists want to take a swing at this, but here it is...

Travis007, please prove that Saddam Hussein was using Oil-for-Food money to support al Qaeda.

The only conspiracy is that you claim to know stuff you have no idea on..

 

[Travis007]

We're not talking about Syria in this thread.

We're demonstrating proof that Saddam Hussein used oil-for-food money to fund al Qaeda.

Better luck next time.

just did..

You got destroyed..

I got tons more..

 

[soot]

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, formerly the director of an al Qaeda training base in Afghanistan, fled to Iraq after being injured as the Taliban fell.

We're not talking about Abu Musab al-Zarqawi seeking safe haven in Iraq in this thread.

We're demonstrating proof that Saddam Hussein used oil-for-food money to fund al Qaeda.

Better luck next time.

 

[Travis007]

Produce your proof please. Then I might believe Hussein backed terror groups.

read the posts here..

 

[AlbqOwl]

I think it is debatable whether the Oil for Food program funded al Qaida because Saddam was a jealous and ruthless and self-serving dictator and did not relinquish the reins to anybody, not even the esteemed terrorist group.

Some estimates of where the billions received by selling Iraqi oil went:

• $18 billion to the Compensation Commission,
• $0.5 billion to UNSCOM and UNMOVIC,
• $0.6 billion for repayment to Member States which advanced funds for humanitarian purchases pending the start of oil sales.
• $1.1 billion for the operational and administrative expenses,
• $1.3 billion for transportation costs of oil, and
• The balance of $42.7 billion to humanitarian activities.

http://www.un.org/News/dh/iraq/oip/facts-oilforfood.htm

In addition it is estimated Saddam took in another $20+ billion smuggling products to his cronies.

It is pretty clear that the Oil for Food program, meant as humanitarian relief to get food and medicine to Iraqi citizens during the interminable sanctions period, largely went to enrich Saddam and his cronies. Very little of it got to the people.

Which is why Saddam was happy as a clam during the sanctions. He was making out like a bandit, he was retaining complete dictatorial powers over the people he was starving and depriving of essentials, and he could entertain himself taking pot shots with impunity at our planes patrolling the no fly zones. Meanwhile even if he had disposed of all or most of his WMDs, the laboratories and plants were waiting, fully intact, to resume business as usual as soon as the inspectors went home and the sanctions were lifted.

Things are rarely quite as simple as some would wish to make them.

 

[Travis007]

We're not talking about Syria in this thread.

We're demonstrating proof that Saddam Hussein used oil-for-food money to fund al Qaeda.

Better luck next time.

Prove he didnt.. I can show you he did..

 

[soot]

just did..

You got destroyed..

I got tons more..

Does any of it actually mention Saddam Hussein using oil-for-food money to fund al Qaeda?

Because that's what this discussion is about and so far you've provided absolutely no evidence that your claim is credible.

 

[Fledermaus]

We're not talking about Syria in this thread.

We're demonstrating proof that Saddam Hussein used oil-for-food money to fund al Qaeda.

Better luck next time.

I do not think he funded Al Qaeda directly. Nor did he allow terrorist organizations within his borders. He was too much a control freak for that.

I DO understand he provided financial support to the families of suicide bombers, etc.

 

[AJiveMan]

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, formerly the director of an al Qaeda training base in Afghanistan, fled to Iraq after being injured as the Taliban fell. He received medical care and convalesced for two months in Baghdad. He then opened a terrorist training camp in northern Iraq and arranged the October 2002 assassination of U.S. diplomat Lawrence Foley in Amman, Jordan.

Ramzi Yousef, the Kuwaiti-born ringleader of the February 26, 1993 World Trade Center bombing plot, first arrived in the United States (on September 1, 1992) on an Iraqi passport.

Author Richard Miniter reported on September 25, 2003, that U.S. forces had discovered a cache of documents in Tikrit, Saddam's hometown, showing that Iraq had given both a house and a monthly salary to al Qaeda member Abdul Rahman Yasin, who was indicted for mixing the chemicals in the bomb that exploded beneath the World Trade Center in 1993.

Iraq-Terrorism Connection - Discover the Networks


People forget Larry Foley many times

Looks like jive to me.

Iraq-Terrorism Connection - Discover the Networks

 

[Travis007]

I think it is debatable whether the Oil for Food program funded al Qaida because Saddam was a jealous and ruthless and self-serving dictator and did not relinquish the reins to anybody, not even the esteemed terrorist group.

Some estimates of where the billions received by selling Iraqi oil went:

• $18 billion to the Compensation Commission,
• $0.5 billion to UNSCOM and UNMOVIC,
• $0.6 billion for repayment to Member States which advanced funds for humanitarian purchases pending the start of oil sales.
• $1.1 billion for the operational and administrative expenses,
• $1.3 billion for transportation costs of oil, and
• The balance of $42.7 billion to humanitarian activities.

Facts about the UN Oil-for-Food Programme

In addition it is estimated Saddam took in another $20+ billion smuggling products to his cronies.

It is pretty clear that the Oil for Food program, meant as humanitarian relief to get food and medicine to Iraqi citizens during the interminable sanctions period, largely went to enrich Saddam and his cronies. Very little of it got to the people.

Which is why Saddam was happy as a clam during the sanctions. He was making out like a bandit, he was retaining complete dictatorial powers over the people he was starving and depriving of essentials, and he could entertain himself taking pot shots with impunity at our planes patrolling the no fly zones. Meanwhile even if he had disposed of all or most of his WMDs, the laboratories and plants were waiting, fully intact, to resume business as usual as soon as the inspectors went home and the sanctions were lifted.

Things are rarely quite as simple as some would wish to make them.

good post for the most part ...

He kept AQ happy in Iraq for a myriad of reasons and as we see funded them

 

[Travis007]

Looks like jive to me.

Iraq-Terrorism Connection - Discover the Networks

do your ow objective research..You will see what I see..

or dont..