BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Documents from Saddam Hussein's oil ministry reveal he used oil to bribe top French officials into opposing the imminent U.S.-led invasion of Iraq
Al-Mada's list cites a total of 46 individuals, companies and organizations inside and outside Iraq as receiving Saddam's oil bribes, including officials in Egypt, Jordan, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Sudan, China, Austria and France, as well as the Russian Orthodox Church, the Russian Communist Party, India's Congress Party and the Palestine Liberation Organization.
theski wrote:
This story seems to be getting some legs..... anyone else with other links??
Please....say it isn't so!
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Howedar wrote: Wow. I actually didn't see this coming. It will be interesting to watch develop.
The economic connections between France and Iraq are actually kind of interesting. Did you know that the price of gasoline in France went up by more than 10% in the three months following the Coalition action in Iraq, while the total number of barrels of oil sold throughout the world increased, and prices of oil in the UK, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg fell?
I'm surprised that Hussein bribed Chirac, although it's pretty clear that Iraq as a whole was bribing France.
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Col. Crackpot wrote:i thought this was more Moonie bullshit, but this is a UPI story. wow.
Hey about the Washington Times; they've consistenltky broken a lot
of good stories, thanks to their excellent national security reporting staff;
mostly Bill Gertz.
"If scientists and inventors who develop disease cures and useful technologies don't get lifetime royalties, I'd like to know what fucking rationale you have for some guy getting lifetime royalties for writing an episode of Full House." - Mike Wong
"The present air situation in the Pacific is entirely the result of fighting a fifth rate air power." - U.S. Navy Memo - 24 July 1944
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Documents from Saddam Hussein's oil ministry reveal he used oil to bribe top French officials into opposing the imminent U.S.-led invasion of Iraq
Al-Mada's list cites a total of 46 individuals, companies and organizations inside and outside Iraq as receiving Saddam's oil bribes, including officials in Egypt, Jordan, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Sudan, China, Austria and France, as well as the Russian Orthodox Church, the Russian Communist Party, India's Congress Party and the Palestine Liberation Organization.
The RCP? Do they have influence?
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That we dying younger hiding from the police man over there
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Electric shocking body rocking beat streeting me to death"
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Didn't have time to go into more details at the time of my first posting, so here goes:
As I said to many before the war, "France doesn't want us going in because I guarantee you we'll find things in there linking them with Saddam in recent months and years."
I was figuring it would be more on the line of French equipment that violated embargoes, but this is bad enough.
Nathan F wrote:Didn't have time to go into more details at the time of my first posting, so here goes:
As I said to many before the war, "France doesn't want us going in because I guarantee you we'll find things in there linking them with Saddam in recent months and years."
I was figuring it would be more on the line of French equipment that violated embargoes, but this is bad enough.
Can't say as I'm suprised at this. And I wouldn't be suprised if they did find materials that prove France violated the embargo.
Why the hell we bother pretending the French are our allies is beyond me. The bastards.
Howedar wrote: Wow. I actually didn't see this coming. It will be interesting to watch develop.
The economic connections between France and Iraq are actually kind of interesting. Did you know that the price of gasoline in France went up by more than 10% in the three months following the Coalition action in Iraq, while the total number of barrels of oil sold throughout the world increased, and prices of oil in the UK, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg fell?
I'm surprised that Hussein bribed Chirac, although it's pretty clear that Iraq as a whole was bribing France.
Ummm, in Australia the prices peaked to $1.10 per litre compared to $0.88 before the war, so I would wonder whether your comparison is slightly askew.
Η ζωή, η ζωή εδω τελειώνει!
"Science is one cold-hearted bitch with a 14" strap-on" - Masuka 'Dexter'
"Angela is not the woman you think she is Gabriel, she's done terrible things"
"So have I, and I'm going to do them all to you." - Sylar to Arthur 'Heroes'
neoolong wrote:Wouldn't it be better to have concrete proof that they acted in such a manner, before the US said that France was one of the bad guys?
I don't think any one is saying they're bad guys (yet). But it seems to be yet more evidence that the policies and interests of the US and France have simply divereged to the simply exstent that we are now rivals. Rivals, not enemies. They simply are no longer our allies.
Not that this should suprise anyone, even during the Cold War they were assholish and unreliable allies.
neoolong wrote:Wouldn't it be better to have concrete proof that they acted in such a manner, before the US said that France was one of the bad guys?
I don't think any one is saying they're bad guys (yet). But it seems to be yet more evidence that the policies and interests of the US and France have simply divereged to the simply exstent that we are now rivals. Rivals, not enemies. They simply are no longer our allies.
Not that this should suprise anyone, even during the Cold War they were assholish and unreliable allies.
But to actually go out and say that we aren't on the same side anymore, would take some pretty heavy proof.
Actually, we aren't on the same side anymore. Remember, they were against us going into Iraq, and heavily protested it, therefore they weren't on our side. Not to say they were on Saddam's side (which if this evidence holds true, they were, but that's a different story), but they weren't on our side, which means we weren't on the same side.
neoolong wrote:But to actually go out and say that we aren't on the same side anymore, would take some pretty heavy proof.
I don't think it's at that stage yet.
On the contrary, as Nathan pointed out, we are simply not on our side. What ever you think of the war in Iraq, the US and France were not on the same side. And it's not something that's confined to Iraq either, there have been a number of disputes over business practices, foreign policy, and such.
France and the US's interests were never as close as the Cold War situation made it seem. And it was a disfunctional relationship even then. With out the necessities of the Cold War the policy differences have come to a head.
Nathan F wrote:Actually, we aren't on the same side anymore. Remember, they were against us going into Iraq, and heavily protested it, therefore they weren't on our side. Not to say they were on Saddam's side (which if this evidence holds true, they were, but that's a different story), but they weren't on our side, which means we weren't on the same side.
Maybe I phrased it wrong then. I meant that they were more on their own side which meant siding with Saddam.
wow.
