Oil-for-food probes expose cultural gulfs

Mr. Pasqua has denied any wrongdoing, and linked the congressional charges to an attempt to besmirch France's opposition to the Iraq war. "I never received anything from the Iraqis, in any domain," said Pasqua at a Paris news conference, according to wire service reports.

Russia was consistently the largest recipient of oil allocations, says the Senate report. One former official of the Hussein regime said this was due to his desire to show "gratitude" for Russian support in the UN Security Council.

For instance, Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his Russian Liberal Democratic Party received lucrative oil allowances, according to House staffers. They point to a letter that appears to be signed by Mr. Zhirinovsky on LDP letterhead which confirms that a firm named "NAFTA MOSCOW" was to receive 2.5 million barrels of his oil allocation.

Zhirinovsky has also denied any wrongdoing. "I did not receive a cent from Iraq," he told a Moscow radio station.

The allegations concerning both Pasqua and Zhirinovsky are not new. Last fall, the special report to the director of Central Intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction mentioned both men as alleged recipients of Iraqi oil. Overall, Russian recipients accounted for 30 percent of Iraq's secret oil allocations, as measured by volume, according to this CIA report. French recipients were second on the list, at 15 percent. Chinese recipients were third, at 6 percent.

But the US was involved as well. According to a report released Monday by Democrats on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, US imports of Iraqi oil helped finance 52 percent of the secret deals made under the oil-for-food program.

The Texas-based firm Bayoil is accused of being the largest importer of Iraqi oil to the US between 2000 and 2002. During that period, Hussein was typically demanding illegal kickbacks from oil allocation recipients.

Bayoil's owners have been indicted by US courts. "On one hand, the United States was at the UN trying to stop Iraq from imposing illegal surcharges on oil-for-food contracts," said Sen. Carl Levin (D) of Michigan at a hearing Tuesday. "On the other hand, the US ignored red flags that some US companies might be paying those same illegal surcharges."

Meanwhile, Congress is involved in a legal tussle with the UN probe into the whole mess, led by Paul Volcker. A federal court Tuesday ordered that the Volcker commission should be allowed to see internal papers one of its own investigators gave to a House committee. Behind this is a struggle over perceived thoroughness, notes Mr. Pfatlzgraff. Some in Congress believe that the UN is soft-pedaling evidence implicating Secretary-General Kofi Annan's son in the oil-for-food scandal.

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