Washington, D.C.
Congressional investigators reported this week that France, Russia, and China repeatedly blocked investigations of corruption in the oil-for-food program in Iraq. The program aimed to help ordinary Iraqis survive sanctions imposed after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990. It allowed Iraq to sell oil to buy food and other essentials, but U.N. officials allegedly looked the other way as Hussein pocketed $10 billion. In a report to House members holding hearings on U.N. corruption, investigators said France, Russia, and China foiled every effort to rein in the program. “Their businesses made billions of dollars through their involvement with the Hussein regime,” the document said.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
June 5 editorial cartoonsCartoons Thursday's political cartoons include a presidential get-out-of-jail-free card, masked ICE agents, and the Tooth Fairy's message for Senator Joni Ernst
-
Selling sex: why investors are wary of OnlyFans despite record profitsIn The Spotlight The platform that revolutionised pornography is for sale – but its value is limited unless it can diversify
-
Garsington Opera opens its summer festival with two 'very different productions'The Week Recommends A 'fabulous' new staging of Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades and Donizetti's fake-love-potion comedy L'elisir d'amore
