America places an oil slip-knot around Hussein’s neck

The situation surrounding Iraq is again in the centerof the world's mass media. Recently, the Washinton Post published an article, reporting that US President George Bush had ordered the CIA to overthrow Saddam Hussein's regime.

To carry out this secret operation, the US secret services can implicate special sub-units similar to that those that operated in Afghani territory after the September 11 attacks. “These sub-units should be empowered to annihilate Hussein, while acting in the framework of self-defence,” the Washington Post reads. According to the newspaper, in response to these orders, CIA head George Tenet said to the administration that he could guarantee only a 10 percent chance of success, especially if the operation is carried without army support and without economic pressure on Iraq. So, the UN program “Oil for Food” seems to belong to this kind of program.

There are some problems in the realization of this programme: Iraqi oil, not without assistance of Washington and London, arrives on the market. Russian Foreign Ministry expressed his concern about it. According to the Foreign Ministry report, recently, a critical situation exist in the realization of the UN program, which is connected with unprecedented decreasing of oil export from Iraq. The main reason of this situation is the practice of backdated prices, which are set after the oil has been embarked. This happens because the US and Great Britain block pricing proposals with Iraq in the Sanction Committee. “Representatives of these countries to the Committee, while explaining this with intensification of control on oil supplies from Iraq, obtain minimizing incomes of the companies which participate in Iraqi oil export, which seriously complicates realization of oil contracts,” – the Foreign Ministry states.

According to the Foreign Ministry, this situation negatively influences UN humanitarian programs on Iraq, which could even collapse. At the same time, money is not transmitted to the UN special account, which cause troubles in the supply of civil goods necessary to satisfy main needs of Iraqi population.

It is easy to understand: the expensive operation against Hussein is not necessary, because its ending is unpredictable. However, economic smothering of the country is much more effective.

Dmitry Chirkin PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Vera Solovieva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/06/19/42854.html