Oil for Food scandal.. Gee! Rice was involved!

For many conservatives, the U.N.’s oil-for-food scandal was an assault on all that is good and holy. In a nutshell, Saddam Hussein took advantage of a U.N. program in which Iraq would sell oil and use the revenue for food, medicine, and humanitarian goods, as exceptions to a trade embargo imposed after the first Gulf War. Saddam, however, received illegal kickbacks on the oil sales, which he transferred to private accounts.

And who was giving Saddam the illegal kickbacks? According to a New York Times report, Chevron is about to announce that it should have known about the kickbacks that were being paid to Saddam. Chevron had an internal policy committee, as part of the company’s board of directors, looking out for these kinds of problems... led by Condoleezza Rice!

According to the Volcker report, surcharges on Iraqi oil exports were introduced in August 2000 by the Iraqi state oil company, the State Oil Marketing Organization. At the time, Condoleezza Rice, was a member of Chevron’s board and led its public policy committee, which oversaw areas of potential political concerns for the company.

"A report released in 2004 by an investigator at the Central Intelligence Agency listed five American companies that bought oil through the program: the Coastal Corporation, a subsidiary of El Paso; Chevron; Texaco; BayOil, and Mobil, now part of Exxon Mobil... As part of the deal under negotiation, Chevron, which now owns Texaco, is not expected to admit to violating the U.N. sanctions. But Chevron is expected to acknowledge that it should have been aware that illegal kickbacks were being paid to Iraq on the oil, the investigators said.

The fine is connected to the payment of about $20 million in surcharges on tens of millions of barrels of Iraqi oil bought by Chevron from 2000 to 2002, investigators said."

Ms. Rice resigned from Chevron’s board on Jan. 16, 2001, after being named national security advisor by President Bush. (and after they named a ship after her!)