NOW YOU KNOW why no one was complaining, let alone stopping, the Oil For Food scandal which put approximately 10 billion dollars in the pockets of Saddam and his ilk, several UN officials, and Saddam's apologists all over the world (I know most people refer to the scandal as UNSCAM, but I still prefer the acronym UNSCUM, the original winner in the LGF poll):

Congressional investigators say that France, Russia and China systematically sabotaged the former United Nations oil-for-food program in Iraq by preventing the United States and Britain from investigating whether Saddam Hussein was diverting billions of dollars.

In a briefing paper given yesterday to members of the House subcommittee investigating the program, the investigators said their review of the minutes of a United Nations Security Council subcommittee meeting showed that the three nations "continually refused to support the U.S. and U.K. efforts to maintain the integrity" of the program.

The program, set up in 1996, was an effort to keep pressure on Mr. Hussein to disarm while helping the Iraqi people survive the sanctions imposed after the invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The briefing paper was prepared by the House Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations, before hearings scheduled for Tuesday on the scandal-ridden program.

The paper suggests that France, Russia and China blocked inquiries into Iraq's manipulation of the program because their companies "had much to gain from maintaining'' the status quo. "Their businesses made billions of dollars through their involvement with the Hussein regime and O.F.F.P.," the document states, using the initials for the program. No officials of the three governments could be reached for comment.

The paper also accuses the United Nations office charged with overseeing the program of having "pressed" contractors not to rigorously inspect Iraqi oil being sold and the foreign goods being bought. The program office, headed by Benan Sevan, who is also under investigation by a committee appointed by the United Nations, turned a blind eye to corruption charges, the paper says, because it apparently saw oil-for-food "strictly as a humanitarian program."

That's a charitable intepretation; I'd say that the fact that he was allegedly pocketing at least three and a half million dollars himself might have something to do with him looking the other way.

The briefing paper said the hearing would focus on Cotecna, the Switzerland-based company hired by the United Nations in 1999 to monitor goods shipped to Iraq, and Saybolt International B.V., the Dutch company that monitored Iraqi oil exports.

Also under scrutiny will be BNP Paribas, the French bank that handled oil revenues under the program and which "never initiated a review of the program or the reputation of those involved," the paper says. This "apparent incuriosity," it adds, "raises questions about its internal due diligence and ethical safeguards."

The paper said Mr. Hussein's government had influenced whom Saybolt and Cotecna employed and had made it hard for them to obtain the equipment and supplies they needed. "This slowed the inspection process, making it difficult for the inspectors to carry out their duties and easier for the Iraqis to pressure the inspectors or sneak things past the inspection regime,'' the paper says.

For those unaware, let me inform you that Cotecna is the Swiss company controlling the transactions in the OFF program, and where Kojo Annan used to work. Yes, the son of this gentleman who smiles so beatifically; but somehow I don't think it's the typical smile that you get when you look back into the past with sweet nostalgia. After all, he was the chief of UN's humanitarian efforts back in 1994, and therefore the official who explicitly gave orders to the UN people in the ground in Rwanda to not do anything to prevent the genocide which killed 900.000 people in five weeks. Just ask Romeo Dallaire.