sábado, septiembre 18, 2004

NO ES la primera vez que abordo este tema aquí, y conviene insistir en las investigaciones de Claudia Rosett (en este caso acompañada) sobre la posibilidad de que una parte considerable del dinero desviado del programa Pertróleo por Alimentos hubiera servido para financiar a al-Qaeda y Osama bin Laden:
LUGANO, Switzerland — Did Saddam Hussein use any of his ill-gotten billions filched from the United Nations Oil-for-Food program to help fund Al Qaeda?

Investigations have shown that the former Iraqi dictator grafted and smuggled more than $10 billion from the program that for seven years prior to Saddam's overthrow was meant to bring humanitarian aid to ordinary Iraqis. And the Sept. 11 Commission has shown a tracery of contacts between Saddam and Al Qaeda (search) that continued after billions of Oil-for-Food dollars began pouring into Saddam's coffers and Usama bin Laden (search) declared his infamous war on the U.S.

Now, buried in some of the United Nation's own confidential documents, clues can be seen that underscore the possibility of just such a Saddam-Al Qaeda link — clues leading to a locked door in this Swiss lakeside resort. (To review a series of documents, audits and other stories related to Oil-for-Food, click here.)

Next to that door, a festive sign spells out in gold letters under a green flag that this is the office of MIGA, the Malaysian Swiss Gulf and African Chamber (search). Registered here 20 years ago as a society to promote business between the Gulf States and Asia, Europe and Africa, MIGA is a company that the United Nations and the U.S. government says has served as a hub of Al Qaeda finance: A terrorist chamber of commerce.
Venga, a leer; y que alguien le dé un Pulitzer a esta mujer. Pocas veces alguien lo ha merecido tanto, teniendo en cuenta que está investigando en solitario -y superando innumerables trabas e intentos de encubrimiento- uno de los mayores escándalos financieros de la historia. Un escándalo que, a diferencia de otros, no ha supuesto una estafa a unos malditos capitalistas sino que condujo a la muerte a muchos miles de personas dentro y fuera de Iraq.