Saddam's oil-food fraud: 'UN let him do it'

From International Herald Tribune

For years the world blamed the US for the deaths of "thousands" of babies in Iraq due to lack of food and medicine. Finally, the truth is told.

Multiple investigations now under way in Washington and Iraq and at the UN all center on one question: How did Saddam amass so much money while under international sanctions?

An examination of the program, the largest in the UN's history, suggests a straightforward answer: The United Nations let him do it.

"Everybody said it was a terrible shame and against international law, but there was really no enthusiasm to tackle it," said Peter van Walsum, a Dutch diplomat who headed the Iraq sanctions committee in 1999 and 2000, recalling the discussions of illegal oil surcharges. "We never had clear decisions on anything. So we just in effect condoned things."
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