'give the inspections more time' 'we can contain
Saddam and keep an eye on him' 'trust us to do the job'
Geeeeeeze ... the U.N. on the job. If it isn't stealing billions
of dollars or massively involved in sexcapades ... it's drunk.
********************************************
U.N.ers were oil 'Tanked'
NY Post
Niles Lathem
February 16, 2005
A former U.N. oil-for-food inspector told a Senate panel yesterday
that he witnessed managers drinking on the job while hundreds
of trucks carrying unknown cargo crossed the Iraqi border — unchecked.
Arthur Ventham, an ex-employee of the Swiss firm Cotecna, which
inspected aid shipments into Iraq for the United Nations, gave the
testimony before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
Ventham said he was stunned at the laxity of the operation set up on
Iraq's borders to police the program and ensure that Saddam Hussein
wasn't violating sanctions.
During a one-week assignment in January 2003 to a border station at
Al-Waleed, Ventham said he conducted inspections of only three trucks
entering Iraq, while between 400 and 500 were allowed to pass his
checkpoint and enter Iraq, showing only paperwork.
"I was somewhat surprised at the level and frequency of inspections
being carried out, as it did not seem appropriate to what I thought was
expected of an independent inspection agency, particularly when dealing
with a regime such as the Ba'ath Party in Iraq," Ventham said in a
written statement to the committee.
Conditions were even worse at the Iraq port of Umm Qasr, where
Ventham said he was assigned later that same month.
Ventham, a burly former Australian customs agent, reported that the
team leader and employees from the same country spent "the
majority of the day in each others' hotel rooms drinking vodka, as
opposed to managing and leading the team."
Full Story
[edit on 2/16/2005 by FlyersFan]
