GOP Assails U.N. on Iraq Program

Republican senators blasted the United Nations on Wednesday for allowing corruption in Iraq’s “oil-for-food” program, saying it let ousted President Saddam Hussein siphon off billions of dollars.

They also said the United Nations’ inability to police the program -- aimed at getting food, medicine and other humanitarian goods to the Iraqi people -- cast doubt on its ability to help Iraq make a transition to a sovereign democratic government.

“The credibility of the United Nations in attempting to ... help transform Iraq is really at stake, and it’s important to the United States, given the sacrifices that we have made, that the institution be sound,” Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) said at a hearing.

He said the United States should launch its own investigation into the fraud allegations. The General Accounting Office, Congress’ investigative arm, has estimated that Hussein’s regime got more than $10 billion in illegal revenue from the U.N. program between 1997 and 2002.

Lugar also blamed Russia, France and China for hindering inquiries so far. The three countries were major participants in the program, which required that oil revenue be put into a U.N. escrow account and used to pay suppliers of Iraqi goods.

The program enabled Iraq to make some humanitarian purchases at a time when it was under sanctions for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Senators questioned whether an investigation launched by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan would get to the bottom of the scandal, in which Hussein’s government allegedly profited through kickbacks, bribes and surcharges.