THOMAS E. MOONEY, SR., Staff Director/General Counsel JOCK SCHARFEN, Chief Counsel FRANK RECORD, Senior Professional Staff Member GREGG RICKMAN, Senior Professional Staff Member, Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia LIBERTY DUNN, Staff Associate (II) Howar Ziad, Representative, Kurdistan Regional Government, United Nations Danielle Pletka, Vice President, Foreign and Defense Policy Studies, Amer- John G. Ruggie, Ph.D., Evron and Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of Inter- national Affairs, and Director, Center for Business and Government, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University Claudia Rosett, Senior Fellow, The Foundation for the Defense of Democ- Michael Soussan, Former Program Coordinator, United Nations Oil-for-Food Joseph A. Christoff, Director, International Affairs and Trade, U.S. General LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING The Honorable Henry J. Hyde, a Representative in Congress from the State of Illinois, and Chairman, Committee on International Relations: Prepared The Honorable Mike Pence, a Representative in Congress from the State THE UNITED NATIONS OIL-FOR-FOOD AND TRANSPARENCY WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 2004 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, The Committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:30 a.m., in Room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Henry J. Hyde (Chairman of the Committee) presiding. Chairman HYDE. The Committee will come to order. Many times the Chair has announcements to make, some of which are perfunctory, some of which are enormously substantive, and I have one of the latter kind to make. One of our Members who is not here today, and you will understand why, Dana Rohrabacher, at 6 o'clock p.m., April 27, his wife Rhonda gave birth to triplets, Annika, Christian and Tristen. So I don't expect we will hear from Mr. Rohrabacher today, but in absentia we congratulate him and wish him, and especially his wife, well. All right. The Committee will come to order. Of the long list of Saddam Hussein's crimes, the most relentless were those committed against the Iraqi people. A grim_catalog of outrages range from mass killings at one extreme to the needless privation and steady grinding away of hope that formed the context of daily life. The elimination of his regime last year revealed a population rendered destitute by 2 decades of dictatorship and the results of the conflicts he initiated against neighboring countries. Unfortunately, efforts by the international community to counter the threat Saddam Hussein posed to his neighbors and others unavoidably added to the burden borne by the Iraqi people. In an effort to spare them, especially women and children, from the harshest effects of the embargo placed on the regime in the aftermath of Saddam's invasion of Kuwait, the United Nations initiated a program in 1996 to provide the Iraqi people with food, medicine and other aid. The humanitarian relief was to be paid for by monitored sales of Iraqi oil. This undertaking came to be known as the Oil-for-Food Program and is credited correctly with saving the lives of millions. Unfortunately, numerous allegations have been made that this humanitarian program was undermined by systematic abuse, including graft and outright theft, that is estimated in the billions of dollars. The latest and most authoritative report is that released by the General Accounting Office. It estimates that between 1997 and (1) 2 2002, Saddam's regime obtained over $10 billion in illegal revenues from the Oil-for-Food Program through illicit surcharges and commissions as well as smuggling. If these charges prove true, the most obvious victims are those Iraqis who failed to receive needed assistance. But the damage extends much further. The massive windfall resulting from this alleged organized theft allowed Saddam to maintain his grip on the country, line his pockets, and to make companies and countries dance to his tune with consequences we are still struggling to contain. But there is yet a deeper threat. Those who believe that the United Nations and its many programs play a vital role around the world, and I count myself among them, must also fear for the potential impact on the reputation and credibility of the U.N. as an institution. The institution's work in other areas should not be needlessly impeded or placed in doubt by these still-emerging allegations. It is, therefore, incumbent upon those with responsibility for these programs, as well as those charged with investigating their failings, to ensure that the truth emerges however unpleasant that task or the results may be. Did U.N. officials responsible for administering the Oil-for-Food Program properly undertake their oversight and management responsibilities? Were some of the administrative provisions ignored or violated by Iraq with the knowledge of U.N. officials? Did the U.N. fail to undertake their responsibilities in overseeing the contracting process? Were program accounts for the administration of the program properly audited? Have they been made public? These and other important questions are the reasons for this and succeeding hearings on this subject. Our Committee's hearing today will begin to unravel the allegations of corruption and fraud that, if true, significantly undermine the effectiveness of the Oil-for-Food Program. Last week U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan named the highly respected Paul Volcker, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, to lead an independent investigation of the program. In Iraq the Finance Ministry has begun its own inquiry with the help of international auditing firms in an attempt to locate stolen assets. I have high hopes that these and other investigations will soon distill truth from allegations of wrongdoing and will lead to remedial measures and reforms wherever needed. It is axiomatic that the success of these investigations requires that investigators have full and complete access to essential information and witnesses, wherever found. Given the U.N.'s expanding role in the establishment of a new government in Iraq, and in assisting that country's reconstruction, it is imperative that the questions surrounding the Oil-for-Food Program be answered as fully and as soon as possible so that its efforts in that country, as well as in the many other vital programs it is responsible for around the world, are not compromised and yet more needless suffering emerge from the fading embers of Saddam's regime. I now turn to my friend and colleague, Tom Lantos, the Ranking Democratic Member, for his opening remarks. [The prepared statement of Mr. Hyde follows:] |