kamichael
Here is the "CWB connection" sworn out in the AU inquiry, and reported in the media:
"Dropping the bundle
Page 1 of 3 | Single page
Australia might have nipped the Iraq wheat scandal in the bud if it had chosen to look
more closely at what was not being said, writes David Marr.
THIS is bullshit," said the man from AWB and that was good enough for the
Government.
In late January 2000, Canberra was moving in a leisurely way to deal with allegations
coming from deep within the United Nations that the national wheat trader AWB was
sanctions busting.
Disbelief greeted the charge when it reached Bob Bowker, head of the Department of
Foreign Affairs and Trade's Middle East branch, in the middle of the month. He reassured
Australian diplomats in New York: "We think it unlikely that AWB would be involved
knowingly in any form of payment in breach of the sanctions regime."
Why was he so certain? Because the month before, AWB had assured him it was "fully
aware of, and respected, Australian Government obligations and UN Security Council
sensitivities and would act accordingly".
We know now - and AWB executives knew then - that this was a lie. At this time, AWB
was paying its first corrupt "trucking fees" to Iraq. The system that would eventually yield
Saddam Hussein's regime a fortune in bribes and kickbacks was in its very early days.
What follows is the story of Australia's failure to nip the whole system in the bud.
What Canberra had learnt by cable from its UN mission was that Iraq was pressuring a
"third country" - easily identified as Canada - to make payments "outside the oil-for-food
program". Iraq was claiming these payments were already being made by AWB.
It was absolutely true.
Her message to Canberra was that once AWB gave the UN a copy of its "standard terms
and conditions", the crisis would pass.
[…]
AWB had a more nuanced understanding: Canada had also to be squared away. In the
days after the Washington meeting, McConville and Flugge flew north to meet Canadian
Wheat Board officials over breakfast in Winnipeg, and executives of the Saskatchewan
Wheat Pool at a transit hotel at Vancouver Airport.
Though a haze of amnesia descended on these men when they appeared before the
Cole inquiry, it's clear they were mounting a big effort to ingratiate the AWB with the
Canadians, who had an immediate problem: as part of its effort to force them to pay
"trucking fees", Iraq was refusing to unload Canadian ships.
Australia was there to help. Snowball jotted a note in his diary: "Trevor wants to keepAustralia was there to help. Snowball jotted a note in his diary: "Trevor wants to keep
alongside them - see if we could help them … mkts to put the cargoes into."
What happened there is unknown, but it is clear that Canada, which had been pursuing
its complaints against Australia fairly vigorously, let them drop...
Over the following year,
Canada was to send a further 300,000 tonnes of wheat to Iraq through an "accredited
exporter". None of those ships would have been landed without paying "trucking fees".
[…]
Cole will have to decide if this was an appalling oversight, a brilliant snow job or a superb
bureaucratic operation in defence of an iconic Australian corporation. The result was the
same: AWB would pay almost $300 million in bribes to Saddam."
Check this thread out: Is the CWB Guilty of "Dropping the Bundle"?
It will explain many of the connections!
http://www.agri-ville.com/cgi-bin/forums/viewThread.cgi?1164392433
Here is the "CWB connection" sworn out in the AU inquiry, and reported in the media:
"Dropping the bundle
Page 1 of 3 | Single page
Australia might have nipped the Iraq wheat scandal in the bud if it had chosen to look
more closely at what was not being said, writes David Marr.
THIS is bullshit," said the man from AWB and that was good enough for the
Government.
In late January 2000, Canberra was moving in a leisurely way to deal with allegations
coming from deep within the United Nations that the national wheat trader AWB was
sanctions busting.
Disbelief greeted the charge when it reached Bob Bowker, head of the Department of
Foreign Affairs and Trade's Middle East branch, in the middle of the month. He reassured
Australian diplomats in New York: "We think it unlikely that AWB would be involved
knowingly in any form of payment in breach of the sanctions regime."
Why was he so certain? Because the month before, AWB had assured him it was "fully
aware of, and respected, Australian Government obligations and UN Security Council
sensitivities and would act accordingly".
We know now - and AWB executives knew then - that this was a lie. At this time, AWB
was paying its first corrupt "trucking fees" to Iraq. The system that would eventually yield
Saddam Hussein's regime a fortune in bribes and kickbacks was in its very early days.
What follows is the story of Australia's failure to nip the whole system in the bud.
What Canberra had learnt by cable from its UN mission was that Iraq was pressuring a
"third country" - easily identified as Canada - to make payments "outside the oil-for-food
program". Iraq was claiming these payments were already being made by AWB.
It was absolutely true.
Her message to Canberra was that once AWB gave the UN a copy of its "standard terms
and conditions", the crisis would pass.
[…]
AWB had a more nuanced understanding: Canada had also to be squared away. In the
days after the Washington meeting, McConville and Flugge flew north to meet Canadian
Wheat Board officials over breakfast in Winnipeg, and executives of the Saskatchewan
Wheat Pool at a transit hotel at Vancouver Airport.
Though a haze of amnesia descended on these men when they appeared before the
Cole inquiry, it's clear they were mounting a big effort to ingratiate the AWB with the
Canadians, who had an immediate problem: as part of its effort to force them to pay
"trucking fees", Iraq was refusing to unload Canadian ships.
Australia was there to help. Snowball jotted a note in his diary: "Trevor wants to keepAustralia was there to help. Snowball jotted a note in his diary: "Trevor wants to keep
alongside them - see if we could help them … mkts to put the cargoes into."
What happened there is unknown, but it is clear that Canada, which had been pursuing
its complaints against Australia fairly vigorously, let them drop...
Over the following year,
Canada was to send a further 300,000 tonnes of wheat to Iraq through an "accredited
exporter". None of those ships would have been landed without paying "trucking fees".
[…]
Cole will have to decide if this was an appalling oversight, a brilliant snow job or a superb
bureaucratic operation in defence of an iconic Australian corporation. The result was the
same: AWB would pay almost $300 million in bribes to Saddam."
Check this thread out: Is the CWB Guilty of "Dropping the Bundle"?
It will explain many of the connections!
http://www.agri-ville.com/cgi-bin/forums/viewThread.cgi?1164392433
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