Written by: Beck

Remember how the oil-for-food program was created because the sanctions against Iraq were creating economic hardship for Iraq's poor? (Well, actually Saddam hoarding every drop of petro money and spending it all on rearming & taking potshots at American planes in the no-fly zones caused economic hardship for Iraq's poor, but that wasn't exactly the stated reason). Well, now that Saddam Hussein is gone, the country is occupied by America and her allies, and a Democratic election has taken place, it should be safe to assume that the sanctions have been lifted. Right?

Wrong.

Iraq wants the United Nations (news - web sites) to lift all sanctions and stop using the country's oil revenue to pay compensation to victims of the 1991 Gulf War and the salaries of U.N. weapons inspectors, Iraq's U.N. ambassador said Tuesday.

Ambassador Samir Sumaidaie called sanctions "anachronistic and inappropriate" and said it's time for the Security Council to recognize that Iraq is a "much more internationally friendly" country that wants to be at peace with its neighbors.

No longer needed, he said, was the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, which was responsible for dismantling Iraqi programs to build chemical or biological weapons or long-range missiles. The commission's inspectors left Iraq just before the March 2003 U.S.-led war that toppled Saddam Hussein, and the United States has barred them from returning.

You think that's bad? It gets even worse. The UN inspectors who haven't been inside Iraq since March of 2003 are still billing Iraq over $10 million a year by siphoning money off the top of Iraqi oil sales.

Finally, the UN continues to compell Iraq to pay reparations for Saddam's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. You know that old saying about those failing to learn from history being doomed to repeat it? Remember how reparations after World War I bankrupted Germany and created the economic conditions which made Hitler's rise to power possible? Do we really want a replay of that in the Middle East? What the hell is wrong with these people at the United Nations? It's time for them to go. The whole damned institution. Raze it to the ground and start over.

In more positive & amusing news, Iraq has announced that it wants the UN to pay it back for all the illicit profits made from Oil-for-Food corruption. I wish the Iraqis the best of luck on ever getting their hands on a single red cent.

(Hat tip: Speed of Thought X2)