``Trust'' for the Iraqi people?

American Conservative: ``Billions of dollars have disappeared, gone to bribe Iraqis and line contractors’ pockets''

This is far from a new story. Deep Blade Journal has for a long time been pointing out the enormous theft of Iraq's oil-wealth surrounding the US occupation since 2003 (see here, here, here, here, here, and here). But the outright criminal taking of billions of dollars during the operation of the Coalition Provisional Authority from April 2003 to June 2004, followed by continuing pervasive corruption that today is ``irreversible'', is brightly illuminated by CIA veteran Philip Giraldi.

Giraldi writes in the October 24, 2005 issue of The American Conservative:

The American-dominated Coalition Provisional Authority could well prove to be the most corrupt administration in history, almost certainly surpassing the widespread fraud of the much-maligned UN Oil for Food Program. At least $20 billion that belonged to the Iraqi people has been wasted, together with hundreds of millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars. Exactly how many billions of additional dollars were squandered, stolen, given away, or simply lost will never be known because the deliberate decision by the CPA not to meter oil exports means that no one will ever know how much revenue was generated during 2003 and 2004.

If the scale of corruption surrounding the long gone Oil-for-Food program is of such concern to the likes of Senator Norm Coleman, Fox News, and Claudia Rosett of the Wall Street Journal editorial page, should not this be too?

Especially true, because the pervasive American-inspired looting of Iraq continues to this day:

A recent high-level investigation of the Iraqi interim government concluded that the corruption is now so pervasive as to be irreversible. One prominent businessman estimates that 95 percent of all business activity involves some form of bribery or kickback.

How is this different than the operations of Saddam that Coleman, Rosett et. al. so righteously decry?

You'll just have to read Giraldi's tales about how billions in the form of bales of cash have been thrown in and out of Iraq -- all without the slightest attempt at recording the transactions or any accounting at all.

Powell lied
Meanwhile, let's contrast pre-war administration pronouncements suggesting the good care that would be taken of the wealth that once rightly belonged to the Iraqi people. Then Secretary of State Colin Powell delivered such remarks to reporters on January 21, 2003. In light of the complete and total looting of all accounts containing Iraq's oil money that came after March 2003, it is amazing and instructive to review some highlights from the transcript of this press event.

QUESTION: Let me ask you about oil, which is of interest people --

SECRETARY POWELL: Oil?

QUESTION: Oil, from Houston. There has been some reports there's a dissension in the administration over what to do, say, after a war with the oil fields, with some people, such as yourself, saying, well, it should be under a UN guidance and --

SECRETARY POWELL: I said that?

QUESTION: Well, there have been some reports that you were on that side versus Eliot Abrams and others who want the US to take control and privatize them.

SECRETARY POWELL: No, no, no. There is no disagreement. This is speculation that has no foundation. If there is a conflict with Iraq and we and the leadership of the coalition take control of Iraq, the oil of Iraq belongs to the Iraqi people. And whatever form of custodianship there is, initially in the hands of, you know, the power that went in, or under international auspices at some point, it will be held for and used for the people of Iraq. It will not be exploited for the United States' own purpose. We will follow religiously international law, which gives clear guidance with respect to the responsibilities of an occupying power, if it comes to that. Everybody speculates about what my views are, what Eliot's views are, what somebody else's views are. What I've just told you, you can take to the bank.

...

QUESTION: Who would operate the oil fields, I guess he's asked?

SECRETARY POWELL: Well, I don't --

QUESTION: Chevron-Texaco, or would the Iraqi National Oil Company continue?

SECRETARY POWELL: We don't have an answer to that question yet. It will be held. If we are the occupying power, it will be held for the benefit of the Iraqi people and it will be operated for the benefit of the Iraqi people. How will we operate it? How best to do that? We are studying different models. But the one thing I can assure you of is that it will be held in trust for the Iraqi people, to benefit the Iraqi people. That is a legal obligation that the occupying power will have.

...

QUESTION: Could oil revenues be used to finance some of the costs of the occupation?

SECRETARY POWELL: In order not to split hairs or pretend that I'm an expert, let me just rest on the argument, on the simple statement, that whatever we do will be consistent with international law with respect to the responsibilities of an occupying power.

And the oil belongs to the Iraqi people. How it will be used, how the funds generated by the oil will be fed back into the Iraqi economy, I can't get into all of those issues. Whether or not it can be used to assist the occupying power in conducting activities that support the Iraqi people -- for example, their humanitarian relief efforts, what it might cost us to deliver humanitarian relief to them -- these are all issues that I just don't have the expertise to get into.

But I know that in our conversations, and a lot of work is being done, in our conversations the overarching, guiding principle is we will be consistent with the requirements of international law. [emphasis added]

These utterly disingenuous remarks by Colin Powell certainly make the voracious looting that came with the occupation all the more damning.

New Iraq constitution makes it legal?
And here is where the American-driven constitutional process in Iraq comes into play -- the idea that it will stamp an imprimatur of legality under international law upon the looting that has taken place is a driving force behind the eagerness of US officials to get the document in force. It's a bit out of date now, but Naomi Klein did a fine piece on these machinations last year for Harpers.

Today, the piece-by-piece privatization of Iraq's national oil company is already underway. With the US wielding massive unaccountable power behind this looting process, it is no wonder that Fox News and most of the rest of the US-based media need the Saddam-era Oil-for-Food program to kick around. That way, everybody's attention is distracted from the man behind the curtain.