Annan says US/UK allowed Iraqi oil scam

UN secretary general, Kofi Annan says that Britain and America were partly to blame for the oil-for-food scandal because for years they had overlooked the illegal trade in Iraqi crude.

Annan hit back to point out that the Iraqi regime profited far more from illicit shipments of oil through Turkey and Jordan which, he said, took place with the almost certain knowledge of Britain and the US - the only countries with the resources to stop the sanctions-busters. 'The bulk of the money that Saddam made came out of smuggling outside the oil-for-food programme, and it was on the American and British watch,' he told reporters.

'Possibly they were the ones who knew exactly what was going on, and that the countries themselves decided to close their eyes to smuggling to Turkey and Jordan because they were allies.'"