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According to the UN "Iraq" has not been "implementing purchases"
permitted under the oil-for-food deal (extract from AP article below).
What's worrying is the proliferation of the suggestion that "Iraq is
deliberately inflating its humanitarian problems" as a result of this
revelation.
Does anyone know anything about the "food" element of "oil-for-food",
and what may be the role of the Iraqi government (or any other
government, for that matter) in this situation?
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UN: Iraq Not Buying Food Under Plan
Wednesday, January 13, 1999; 9:22 p.m. EST
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Though the United Nations is
allowing Iraq
to sell some oil to buy needed food, the world body
said Wednesday that
it hadn't received any recent contracts to get the
food to Iraqis.
Western diplomats fear Iraq may be delaying signing
such humanitarian aid
contracts at a time when it is trying to increase
pressure to have the U.N.
oil embargo lifted.
Under the U.N. oil-for-food program, Baghdad is
allowed to bypass a
ban on its oil sales and sell a limited amount to buy
humanitarian aid.
U.N. spokesman John Mills said Wednesday that Iraq was
authorized to
buy $8 million in high-protein biscuits in the last
half of 1998 but hasn't
acted. He also said the world body has only received
one contract to
provide special therapeutic milk for severely
malnourished children.
State Department spokesman James P. Rubin on Wednesday
pointed to
the delays in ordering food by Iraq in describing what
he called the Iraqi
hypocrisy.
``While complaining that the Iraqi people are
suffering, Iraq has failed to
order and distribute food and medicine that would
alleviate problems in
this area,'' Rubin said.
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