WAR: U.S. Govt. Ignored Reports of Iraqi Oil Smuggling

GAO.gov May 2002 Report

Although the oil for food program controls most of Iraq’s oil revenues in an escrow account (more than $51 billion since the program was established), we conservatively estimate that Iraq has illegally earned at least $6.6 billion since 1997—$4.3 billion from smuggling and $2.3 billion in illegal surcharges on oil and commissions from its commodity contracts.
For example, in 2001, we estimate that Iraq earned $1.5 billion by smuggling oil through Jordan, Syria, Turkey, and the Persian Gulf. U.S. government and oil industry sources indicate that the quantity of oil being smuggled varies by destination over time. Oil industry experts estimate that Iraq smuggled out as much as 480,000 barrels of oil per day in March 2002. (See table 1.)

Table 1: Estimates of Smuggled Oil, March 2002
Source: Middle East Economic Survey.

Exit route Barrels per day
Jordan 75,000 to 110,000
Syria 180,000 to 250,000
Turkey 40,000 to 80,000
Persian Gulf 30,000 to 40,000
Total 325,000 to 480,000

CBO.gov Sept 2002
Currently, about 80 percent of Iraq’s oil production is being used to purchase imports under the United Nations Oil for Food Program or for domestic consumption. And, in the near term, Iraqi oil exports cannot be expanded without large-scale investment and development of infrastructure. Thus, the primary source of additional funds for reconstructing Iraq would be the proceeds from the legitimate sale of the approximately 400,000 BPD that are currently smuggled out of the country to pay for the importation of items that violate United Nations sanctions.
Assuming that a postconflict Iraq complied with all U.N. resolutions and removed the basis for the current economic sanctions, and assuming also that its oil production infrastructure was undamaged, Iraq could pay for reconstruction costs by using funds generated from that 400,000 BPD of oil and still have enough to pay for its country’s current level of imports.
At today’s oil prices, production at that level would amount to approximately $3 billion a year.

Oil is smuggled through Syria (180,000 to 250,000 BPD); Jordan (75,000 to 110,000 BPD); Turkey (40,000 to 80,000
BPD); and other Persian Gulf states (30,000 to 40,000 BPD). See General Accounting Office, Weapons of Mass
Destruction: U.N. Confronts Significant Challenges in Implementing Sanctions against Iraq, GAO-02-625 (Washington,
D.C., May 2002).

"Although the financial beneficiaries were Iraqis and Jordanians, the fact remains that the US government participated in a major conspiracy that violated sanctions and enriched Saddam's cronies," a former UN official said. "That is exactly what many in the US are now accusing other countries of having done. I think it's pretty ironic."

Originally posted by marg6043
I tell you what I will like to see how FOX is going to do the news on this one, after all they were screaming a top of their long of the indecency of the UN and how their dirty hands was all over it.

Originally posted by marg6043
You know what as days go by and more stuff comes out it gets to the point that people will care less