[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 67 (Thursday, May 13, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H2992]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  EXPLAINING THE OIL FOR FOOD SCANDAL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Green) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, Americans are just beginning to 
read and hear of something called the Oil for Food scandal. Well, what 
does that mean? What does that term mean? And, more importantly, why 
should Americans care?
  Well, Mr. Speaker, for just a few minutes, I would like to try to 
answer those questions.
  Over a dozen years ago, Mr. Speaker, right after Saddam Hussein 
invaded Kuwait, the world moved quickly to impose sweeping 
international sanctions on Iraq. Those sanctions were designed to force 
Saddam Hussein to leave Kuwait and to follow international law on 
matters ranging from human rights to supporting terrorism to ending any 
pursuit of weapons of mass destruction.
  Because our beef was with Saddam Hussein and his evil regime and not 
with the Iraqi people, the Oil for Food program was created. It was 
established as a humanitarian way through the United Nations to try to 
offer some relief to the Iraqi people. It was intended to allow the 
Iraqi Government to sell limited quantities of oil, so long as the 
proceeds were used to purchase food, medicine, and other essentials for 
the Iraqi people.

                              {time}  1715

  As I said, it was a humanitarian, compassionate gesture.
  Now there is a scandal. There is a scandal, Mr. Speaker, because of 
growing evidence of the Oil For Food program was not only mismanaged, 
but used by Saddam Hussein for diabolical purposes. Some say the 
program is twisted by mismanagement. Some say it was twisted by 
corruption and greed. Still others say that it was twisted by an anti-
American agenda and bias.
  So what happened that is so scandalous? Well, for one thing, Saddam 
Hussein used money, lots and lots of money, to buy things other than 
necessities for the Iraqi people. Not just small things like alcohol 
and cigarettes, but he used over $2 billion to build palaces, monuments 
to himself and his evil regime. Even worse, he used some of that money 
to build his weapons and to launch his weapons program. This was money 
that would have gone to his people. Instead, this money went to 
perpetuate his evil regime and his lifestyle.
  Secondly, because of alleged mismanagement and corruption within this 
U.N. program, billions of dollars that were procured are now missing. 
This was money that should be in the hands of the Iraqi people. Now 
more than ever, at the very time they need money for reconstruction, 
money to get back on their feet, money to build new schools, money to 
get ahead and build a brighter future, that money, $10 billion worth, 
that money is gone.
  Finally, and worst of all, some of this Oil For Food money was used 
by Saddam Hussein to pay off his cronies, allegedly to buy influence 
around the world, perhaps even in the United Nations itself, and to 
thwart the economic sanctions and diplomacy that we all hoped and 
prayed would avoid war. Lord forbid that this last point is true, 
because if it is true, if in fact some of this money was used to buy 
influence in the United Nations and other countries, it means that some 
of this money, it means that the Oil For Food program, it means that 
individuals within the United Nations and the international community, 
that their actions thwarted diplomacy and prevented sanctions from 
happening. And because diplomacy and sanctions failed, we went to war. 
And that means, Mr. Speaker, something that we all dearly hope is not 
true; that means that this corruption of this program led to the loss 
of American lives.
  Mr. Speaker, this scandal involves billions of dollars, it involves 
mismanagement, it involves corruption, it involves illegal activity, 
and it may involve the kind of activity that costs lives, has 
lengthened this conflict, and perhaps even led to war.
  Mr. Speaker, in the coming weeks, I and a number of other members of 
committees like the Committee on International Relations will come to 
this floor to ask publicly some important questions of the United 
Nations to try to get some answers, to learn more about the Oil For 
Food program, to find out whether there was, in fact, the corruption 
that we fear, and to try to get some answers. The American people 
deserve answers. The families of servicemen deserve answers. All of us 
deserve answers.
  As I have said, I dearly hope that what we have read and what we have 
heard is not true, because if it is, as William Safire of the New York 
Times has said, it would make it the most far-reaching political and 
financial scandal in history.

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