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[ This message has been sent to you via the CASI-analysis mailing list ] > Hello, all. I am currently reading Richard Perle and David > Frum's book, "An End to Evil," planning to review it (Frum is > the guy who put the "axis of evil" line in Bush's 2002 State > of the Union speech). ... So here are my questions: Thank you Rahul. I've put your questions to an insider, who answers as follows: <begin> I interpret Perle and Frum's figures in the same way that Rahul does: they added the uncommitted funds and the pipeline, and - hey presto! The majority of the uncommitted funds would have been funds not allocated to the agencies and oil spares and special allocation. This sum also included the 2.2% account (UN admin costs) and the interest payments. The $6 billion shortfall was because the OIP decided to carry on approving contracts for which there was no money. It was an unreal situation - the money was not there to start with. There was no available revenue at the time to fund 59% accounts for the South/Centre. There was $13 billion in the bank but the pipeline was being held against deliveries: as soon as they reached Iraq/ met the authentication requirements they would be paid. The remaining funds could not be spent on 59% account goods. Afterwards, of course, the goalposts changed and the 13% and 59% accounts were lumped together. The implication that the UN was just sitting on that amount of money is [untrue], to put it succinctly. There is no means of double-checking: the UN's Office of the Iraq Programme has been air-brushed into history, making comparison very difficult. <end> Best, Colin Rowat work | Room 406, Department of Economics | The University of Birmingham | Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK | web.bham.ac.uk/c.rowat | ( 44/0) 121 414 3754 | (+44/0) 121 414 7377 (fax) | c.rowat@bham.ac.uk personal | (+44/0) 7768 056 984 (mobile) | (+44/0) 7092 378 517 (fax) | (707) 221 3672 (US fax) | c.rowat@espero.org.uk _______________________________________ Sent via the CASI-analysis mailing list To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-analysis All postings are archived on CASI's website at http://www.casi.org.uk