I Finally Decided To Post. .

On the UN "Oil-for-Food" scandal. Though I never doubted for a second that there was, and still is, plenty of corruption within the UN, I just felt uneasy relying on US news sources for information that is so clearly helping the Bush administration retroactively prove their case for war. It is not because I have it out for Bush, it's just that I don't like the fact that the government can now point to this scandal as reason enough for their actions, which in turn lets the American public forget that they were systematically lied to. That is something we should always remember when Bush is at the podium. Now the BBC has reported this:

The oil-for-food programme was a scheme administered by the UN allowing Iraq to export oil despite the sanctions.

The revenue went into accounts controlled by the UN and was supposed to be spent on food and medicines to improve living conditions in Iraq.

The scheme ran for seven years, ending with the fall of Saddam Hussein's government.

UN officials have been accused of either turning a blind eye to abuses, or in some cases of being corrupt themselves.

It has been described as the biggest financial scandal in history.

According to US senate investigators, Saddam Hussein embezzled $21bn by evading UN sanctions over a period of years.

That figure released earlier this week is double previous estimates.