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Chalabi used oil for food to subvert grain contract { March 25 2006 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/did-iraqs-deputy-pm-spill-the-beans/2006/03/24/1143083990264.htmlhttp://www.theage.com.au/news/national/did-iraqs-deputy-pm-spill-the-beans/2006/03/24/1143083990264.html
Did Iraq's deputy PM spill the beans?
Email Print Normal font Large font By Richard Baker
March 25, 2006
ON HIS recent mission to Baghdad to save Australia's wheat exports, Trade Minister Mark Vaile was greeted by the man Federal Government officials suspect was responsible for bringing AWB's kickbacks to Saddam Hussein to the attention of the world.
Ahmed Chalabi, Iraq's controversial Deputy Prime Minister and a favourite of the hawks in Washington, last month delivered a painful message to Mr Vaile. Iraq would no longer deal with AWB because of its payment of $290 million in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein.
This decision was welcomed in the US, where the powerful grain lobby had been trying for years to weaken Australia's grip on Iraq. But AWB's undoing had been two years in the making. As Iraq's former trade minister Muhammad al-Juburi told a Baghdad newspaper last year, there were "hidden forces" that did not want to see successful wheat trade between Iraq and Australia.
Was Dr Chalabi — the man who convinced the Bush Administration to invade Iraq by providing information on Saddam's non-existent weapons program — a part of these forces?
Documents seen by The Age show Australian officials in July 2004 believed that Dr Chalabi was the source of information that implicated AWB in the corruption of the United Nations' oil-for-food program.
Australian military lawyer with the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, Colonel Mike Kelly, told Foreign Affairs official Jeremy Bruer the "allegations began with Chalabi". Colonel Kelly said Dr Chalabi wanted to control investigations into the kickbacks scandal "because otherwise he may well be in sights".
Mr Bruer wrote that Colonel Kelly believed the "oil side" of the food program scandal had been well documented but not the "food side". "That's where AWB angle comes in. Lots of this will come out in the oral process," he recorded.
And so it has. A UN inquiry found AWB was the biggest payer of kickbacks. The Cole inquiry has unearthed evidence showing AWB knew it was breaching UN sanctions. And the Howard Government is reeling from accusations of cover-up or gross negligence.
Dr Chalabi told The Age this week that he played no part in last month's decision to banish AWB from Iraq, saying it was an independent decision of Iraq's Grain Board. Nor had he "personally" provided documents to the UN and US.
But Dr Chalabi, who has been following the Cole inquiry closely did give AWB another blast.
"I am sorry to say that AWB has not played a positive role in Iraq. They were complicit in Saddam's thefts, they helped to keep corrupt Baathist officials in place after the liberation, they refused to bid on our new transport tenders and they attempted to besmirch Iraq's reputation in the international shipping market," he said.
"They need to understand that Iraq has changed. Transparency, accountability and value for money have replaced secret deals, corruption and bribery as the way of doing business here."
But some in Australia's grain industry believe Dr Chalabi, the UN and the US have made it their mission to make AWB the biggest scapegoat of the 2200 companies involved in rorting the UN program. "The Americans have been doing everything they can to screw us for years," an AWB manager told The Age this week.
When it toppled Saddam in 2003, the US made it clear to Iraq there were to be no more special wheat deals with Australia. US farmers have since seen their biggest competitor sidelined as their own wheat exports have soared. The US has also replaced Thailand and Vietnam as the major supplier of rice to Iraq.
Dr Chalabi's role in exposing AWB began three years ago with Saddam's defeat when his Iraqi National Congress secured thousands of documents from Iraq's burnt-out ministries. Many referred to corruption of the UN food program and in the hands of such a tactician as Dr Chalabi, they were political dynamite.
He engaged London-based "strategy consultant" Claude Hankes Drielsma to carry out an investigation. Mr Drielsma found major companies, powerful politicians and businessmen were caught up in the scandal.
In mid-2004 US troops raided Dr Chalabi's house and seized documents. At the same time, Dr Chalabi was accused by the White House of spying for Iran. For two years he was out of favour in Washington.
AWB Iraq account manager Chris Whitwell told colleagues in October 2004 that Dr Chalabi's investigation was halted when it became clear US oil firms were involved in corruption.
Dr Chalabi was welcomed back by the US in November. This was just two weeks after former US federal reserve chief Paul Volcker reported to the UN that AWB was the biggest payer of kickbacks to Saddam Hussein. Instrumental to his inquiry were the documents obtained by Dr Chalabi.
Who is Ahmed Chalabi?
BORN in 1945, Ahmed Chalabi is Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister and has links to the Pentagon. Spent decades in exile in London and the US. Was instrumental in getting the US to invade Iraq. Received millions of dollars from the CIA; accused by the US in 2004 of spying for Iran. Obtained documents that exposed the oil-for-food scandal. Relationship with Washington repaired last year. Has been dogged by the collapse of a private bank he established in Jordan.
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