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In the second presidential debate, Sen. John Kerry claimed to have met with all fifteen members of the United Nations Security Council just one week before voting in October 2002 to authorize the use of force in Iraq.

"This president hasn't listened. I went to meet with the members of the Security Council in the week before we voted. I went to New York. I talked to all of them, to find out how serious they were about really holding Saddam Hussein accountable."

Joel Mowbray, reports in the Washington Times on Monday that of the five ambassadors to the Security Council in 2002 who were reached for comment, four of the five said they had never met Mr. Kerry. Three of the four ambassadors -- those from Mexico, Columbia, and Bulgaria -- were willing to be identified for the report.

France's chief U.N. representative, Jean-David Levitte, said through a spokesperson that Mr. Kerry had had one-on-one meetings with "some" of the members of the Security Council, but could only name himself and Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock of Britain as individuals on the Council with whom Kerry had met.

UPDATE: Shape of Days is underwhelmed. Wizbang provides context as well as links to other stories that could spell trouble for the Kerry campaign in the waning days of October.

Labels: France, Jean-David Levitte, John Kerry, Saddam Hussein, Security Council, United Nations

New information on how Saddam Hussein manipulated the oil-for-food program appears in today's Associated Press from Desmond Butler. Earlier this month the report of U.S. arms inspector Charles Duelfer revealed that various foreign companies and individuals from various countries, but predominantly from Russia, France and China, had received oil contracts from the former Iraqi government under the U.N. program.

Today's report is based on information from interviews with dozens of former and current iraqi officials by congressional investigators at the House International Relations Committee chaired by Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Illinois. The Iraqi officials were flown outside of Iraq for the interviews.

The need for protection of these witnesses became evident in late June, when an Iraqi official, Ehsan Karim, head of the Iraqi Finance Ministry's audit Board, was killed in a car bombing after having been interviewed in Amman, Jordan, on May 21.

The Iraqi officials provided lists of foreign companies favored by Saddam for import contracts under the oil-for-food program. They also revealed a parallel blacklist of companies disqualified from getting deals. Iraqi front companies that operated abroad to solicit and process bribes from foreign companies were identified.

The list of favored companies include some who appeared on Duelfer's report as getting oil vouchers, including Gazprom, Lukoil and Tatneft. There were also some obscure Western companies from Germany, Belgium, Cyprus, Italy and Switzerland appearing on the list. Various companies on the blacklist are censured for having done business with Israel.

Labels: China, Ehsan Karim, France, Iraq, Russia, Saddam Hussein, United Nations