Everyone In Cabinet Knew Saddam Was Grabbin' It !

.Was Terence Cole's request for those with information to step forward a plea or a threat of revelation? Caroline Overington's detailing of those who received the ominous cable suggest the latter premise is worth considering.

[extract]

The scam was outlined in a diplomatic cable
dated April 10, 2001 from Bronte Moules, an official at Australia's permanent mission to the UN in New York.

It was widely distributed through the top echelons of government,
including the Prime Minister, Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander
Downer, Trade Minister Mark Vaile and then-minister for agriculture
Warren Truss.

The warning was also circulated to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and its offshoot Austrade, the Attorney-General's Department, the Defence Department, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Defence Intelligence Organisation and the Australian Bureau of
Agricultural and Resource Economics. Senior DFAT officials on the cable's distribution list include secretary Ashton Calvert and deputy secretaries Pamela Fayle, John Dauth, David Spencer and Alan Thomas.

Ms Moules's cable clearly outlined Iraq's plan to extract US dollars from AWB by demanding a levy of 50c a tonne on wheat, before it would be unloaded.

She said the issue was linked to wider concerns about corruption in the oil-for-food program and said there was "anecdotal and in some cases hard evidence of Iraqi purchasers and agents
demanding fees from suppliers, in contravention of the sanctions regime".

While the cable did not say AWB had agreed to pay bribes, it is at odds with the Howard Government's claim that it never investigated claims that AWB was funnelling money to Saddam Hussein's regime because it believed the allegations were simply rumours made up by rival wheat-selling nations.

Ms Moules's cable shows that Saddam's efforts to steal money from the oil-for-food program were well-known in Canberra, as was the fact that AWB had been asked to participate in the scam.

Our Prime Minister and his cabinet have been revealed as deceitful and untrustworthy. If they won't go voluntarily then perhaps we should be considering the legal means available to remove them from power.