Tim Blair

If former President and perennial dictator fellator Jimmah Carter's drunken brudda Billa was alive, I'll bet his gas station in Plains, Georgia would've gotten a cut of the action.

After all, Billa had lobbied on behalf of Libya and Jimmah loves Saddam.

If this is true, its not about the oil, its about the grease.

Would we be a tad premature to imagine that a certain Pilger, J. might well make an appearance?

Remember this quote from INSTAPUNDIT earlier.
It comes, sad to say, from the National Post in Canada:

SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER IN CANADA:

It was a great shame for journalists all across the country, for instance, that the Bloc Quebecois, not our so-called media, had to break the story about the revolting 40% increase in federal government spending over the past five years. There was a 90% increase in the Justice Department budget, 129% in legal services alone. What on God's green earth would they be doing with that money?

Why don't we know more about the connection between the Desmarais family, TotalFinaElf, the Bank Paribas, Jacques Chirac, and the UN's Oil for Food program? Given the relationship between the Desmarais family and Chretien, did that have anything to do with our refusal to join the war in Iraq? If this were the States, that story would be front and centre for months. Why do we not know more about the $250,000 the Canadian government gave to Human Concern International, an Ottawa-based organization headed by Ahmed Khadr who is reputed to have links with Osama bin Laden. Khadr used the money to open refugee camps in Pakistan that CSIS now says were used to aid Islamic fighters waging holy war in Afghanistan.

Let me tell you why we don't have a free press. If we did, things would change for our plushy elites pretty fast

Have we become the Benedict Arnold of the anglosphere?

"The US-backed Iraqi Governing Council decided to check after an independent Baghdad newspaper, al-Mada, published a list which it said was based on oil ministry documents."

An "independent Baghdad newspaper"! When was the last time you saw that phrase? Things are getting better and better, yes indeed.

I had a bit of a problem with the translation but was the allegation from Le Monde that the current Indonesian president may have profited?

Yep. Megawati is Sukarno's daughter and current Pres. of Indonesia.

The my next question is, morality and honesty aside, is there any illegality? French companies trade oil with Iraq is hardly news. Indeed one quoted didn't deny it and claims it was within the bounds of the UN food for oil program - an assertion I'm not in a position to assess.

I'm much more interested in who the journalists are. Unless they are in the oil business they would have a whole lot of explaining to do.

I'm surprised that Cheney, Rove, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Perle, and Bush's names aren't getting more play in the blogosphere. To say nothing of the gigantic pay made to Halliburton and Bechtel. I mean, I thought there would be a hailstorm of...

Oh. Wait. You mean they aren't on the list?

Huh. Imagine that.

heh. I'll bet a beer on Margo!

I wonder what Fisk's column will say the day after he gets caught in the stampede of the Iraqis he swindled:

"I can understand why they would attack me."

The Le Monde translation is so appallingly bad, it's hard to take it seriously. Must have been done by Year 10 students (public school of course).

So Iraq's oil-for-food program, managed by the UN, was for French Cuisine served at the Tour d’Argent in Paris.

Also interesting is that NIGERIA is on the list!

Yellowcake anyone????

freddyboy: its a automated translation by google, thats why its hard to read.

Freddyboy -

Translation was automated so possibly missed the true nuances of the French language.

You know "We'll ignore a body for every barrel you give us."

I admit it guys. I was paid in oil to make posts on this board under the name "Miranda Divide".

I was also paid in lunches and EXPENSIVE WINE to post as Big Hawk.

Sorry.

More payouts:

Phillip Adams: plastic turkeys

Scott Ritter: nubile young girls

Robert Fisk: brutal bashings

FreddyBoy - you've had a deadset Barry with that one. Go give yourself an uppercut.

ordi - Nigeria is a different country to Niger.

Speak of trivialities and translation issues: our intellectual and moral superiors at Le Monde seemingly don't know the difference between Austria and Australia (psst...we're the ones who helped save you from the Austrian). Several other news articles quote the same list but have Austria listed instead of Australia.

We can all cross Pilger off our lists now...

From what I can grok of the google translation ("the girl of the president indonésien Sukarno, Megawati"), the allegation may refer to a daughter of Megawati rather than Megawati herself. Mentioning her by reference to her father doesn't make sense in a newspaper list IMO.

--Peter Metcalfe

Peter

My personal French translator (my father) just called to say that the meaning was the daughter of Sukarno ie. Megawati herself. I believe the word "Putri" means "daughter of".

If that is true then Megawati can kiss her arse goodbye. The Yanks will fuck her over.

If any Austrians are on the list, my bet would be Jorg Haider.

Putri is one of the many Sanskrit words in Malay/Indonesian.
It means '(princely) daughter' , putra = '(princely) son'.

Sukarnoputri = Sukarno's daughter

You see 'putra' joined to another Sanskrit word to give 'bumiputra' (sons of the soil) which what Muslim Malays call themselves when they give themselves special rights ahead of other Malaysians.

Americans may sometimes confuse Austria and Australia.
The French do not.
The French word for Austria is "Autriche", and for Australia "Australie"
Schicklegruber was not the first Austrian to cause trouble in France. Marie-Antoinette was an Austrian.
Louis XIV's mother was Austrian, and ran the show for many years.

I wonder if Michael Moore will make this the subject of his next 'documentary' film?

I mean, since he's for the 'common person' he could show how the 'common people' in Iraq suffered while various world wide 'elites' had their bank accounts filled.

Unless Bush or the US can be shown to be behind any/all payouts, I doubt it will interest him very much. People like Moore don't seem to be very interested in any 'common people', except those he views as harmed by the US.

Austria = Australia

Hitler = Kangaroos

Heil Skippy!

I wonder if Molly Ivins thinks people involved in the French "ole bidness" are evil or is it just those who are from Texas and vote for Bush?
BC

I like this:

Abdel Adhim Manaf, editor in chief of Sawt al-Arab newspaper, an Egyptian newspaper published in Cyprus, told AP..."Even if I had received (oil), what's the problem?" he asked. "The Iraqis are saying the Arab oil is for all Arabs. This is not a crime, this is not forbidden. I have always supported Saddam and believed in him, and I still do. I will never backtrack."

I'm sure Fiskie could say the same.

The only time I got confused about Austria / Australia was when a kangaroo escaped from a zoo in Austria.

The money sent to Nger was a mistake. It was a response to a Nigerian mail fraud scheme and Sadam got the address wrong.

Blaming Australia instead of Austria is understandable; Austria has the world's best PR machine. They have convinced everybody that Beethoven was Austrian and Hitler was not.

Chris Josephson: I agree with you that Moore's unlikely to make such a movie.

Moore has said that most of his funding comes from outside the US. Wouldn't it be interesting if some of this money actually did wind up in Moore's hands? Of course, he'd deny that he knew about the connection.

Imagine all you like Toddy boy.
Imagination is truth here at Spleenville!!

It's better than your remarks, Silly Slips, which show no evidence of any imagination whatsoever.