Will Howard get off scot free?
“What is all too often overlooked is that the $290 million paid in kickbacks to Saddam was money originally earmarked for medicines and food for the Iraqi people. Year after year, AWB inflated its contracts to redirect this money from an escrow account supposedly overseen by the UN.
Howard and Downer have since 2003 wanted to be seen as champions of ordinary Iraqis. But for a long time, although warnings about AWB and oil-for-food kept popping up, they and the people who worked for them demonstrated almost zero interest – even though any rorting would have added to the suffering of many Iraqis.
If the real business of a government is to remain in government, such things probably do not matter. And there is a fair bit of evidence around that for most of us they do not.” (Age)