The Unscam, yet another scam from the neo-cons.

Throughout 2004, neo-cons have been frisking about what they call the "Unscam". In summary, Saddam Hussein supposedly diverted billions of dollars away from the United Nations Oil For Food programs to corrupt political leaders of France, Russia and China, in order to obtain political advantages such as a veto of any military intervention towards Iraq at the United Nations' Security Council. Needless to say, the "Unscam" goes against the imperial interests of the USA.

The purpose of this post is not to determine whether the "Unscam" truly happened. Many French political leaders are indeed corrupt and their ties with Saddam Hussein are well established. Evidently, France's position on the Iraq war does not stem from humanitarian considerations only but also from the fact that Total, France's first oil company, had strong interests in the U.N. ending its sanctions against Saddam's regime.

In fact, once again, the "Unscam" is a political tool to punish opponents to the USA's current imperial policy. Neo-cons want to get Kofi Annan's head on a platter to retaliate against his stating that the Iraq war is illegal in the middle of the U.S. election campaign. Among other things, they also want to paint France, their oldest enemy, as a corrupt and anti-democratic country.

I will however venture into a small prediction: the "Unscam" will not work. Kofi Annan will stay at the U.N. till the end of his mandate and the Bush administration will accept whatever result comes out of the investigation currently carried out at the United Nations. Furthermore, the Bush administration will abstain from criticizing France on that matter.

I am not taking big risks with this prediction: among American businessmen deeply involved in the U.N. Oil For Food program is Dick Cheney, the current Vice-President. At the time, Dick Cheney was CEO of Halliburton, a company that raked millions of dollars through doing business with Saddam Hussein within the Oil-for-Food program. Dick Cheney himself got a nice retirement package from Halliburton. Furthermore, Dick Cheney is also involved in a corruption case in Nigeria and could easily be indicted by the French justice. As we say in France, Judge Renaud van Ruymbeke, a specialist of corruption, holds Dick Cheney by his balls.

Funnily, the only American name that is cited in connection to the "Unscam" is Marc Rich, a businessman who was pardoned by Bill Clinton just before the end of his mandate. Just go to Google, do a search on "oil-for-food Dick Cheney" and you will find many on-line articles that tell the real story behind the Unscam. That should also tell you how biased some bloggers can be.