Lest it seem this case is all about ancient history — so far the early and mid-1990s — it bears noting that the government's cooperating witness, Samir Vincent, testified last Wednesday that he made efforts, in the U.S., on behalf of Saddam Hussein's government, from 1992 "until the end of 2002."
At that stage, said Vincent, "I believe the war was imminent and all communications stopped."
The year 2002 would bring us well beyond the tenure of former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who stepped down just as the first oil flowed out of Iraq under Oil-for-Food, in December, 1996. The year 2002 would take us six years into the reign of the current U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who was the top administrator of Oil-for-Food as it reached its full and rotten flowering of billions in global graft. There is no sign that Annan himself has been accused of anything. But there may well be insights ahead into the back corridors of U.N. and Iraqi maneuvering in the runup to the ferocious debate that preceded the March, 2003 U.S- led invasion of Iraq.
When interrupted by the current July 4th long weekend, Vincent was still on the witness stand, under direct questioning. More expected when the trial resumes tomorrow.
