PoliBlog

Who You Gonna Call? Sanction Busters!

I am shocked, shocked! Of course it begs the question how any of the countries on the Security Council can object to lifting the sanctions now:

Saddam Hussein raked in $2 billion a year in a sanctions-busting ploy that kept the former Iraqi president in luxury and the dilapidated oil sector alive, an Iraqi oil industry executive said Tuesday.

In the eyes of the United States, Iraq was smuggling 280,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil to Syria and Turkey illegally to fill Saddam's coffers and purchase components for banned weapons of mass destruction.

But for many in Iraq, the former Oil Minister Amir Muhammed Rasheed was conducting "barter trade" outside United Nations supervision, helping to generate cash to buy equipment for the country's cash-starved oil network, the executive said.

Also: if Saddam could go this on the sly, surely the money can start flowing relatively soon.

Source: Iraq Made $2 Billion a Year in Sanctions-Busting