Violence and Scandals Surround Newly Appointed Iraqi Interim Government

Interview with Denis Halliday, former United Nations under-secretary general and past coordinator of Iraq's oil for food program, conducted by Scott Harris

The U.S. handing over of power to a newly appointed interim Iraqi government on June 28 has had no discernible affect on the violence that continues to grip the nation. A succession of car bombings, ambushes and kidnapping of private contractors and U.S. soldiers signifies Iraqi insurgents rejection of a transition process that the Bush administration maintains will lead to national elections and full sovereignty in early 2005.

U.S. administrator Paul Bremer left Iraq immediately following a secret ceremony where power was symbolically transferred to the new government, but not before he put in place a series of decrees that locks Iraq into privatizing some of the nation's key public industries and pushes the economy towards free trade and low tax policies favored by Washington. Meanwhile, an investigation continues into alleged bribes paid by Saddam Hussein to U.N. officials that allowed him to divert billion from the U.N.-run Oil-for-Food program to his personal bank accounts. But new questions are also being raised by the humanitarian relief organization Christian Aid, that says the U.S.-led coalition Provisional Authority has not properly accounted for billion of Iraq's oil revenue under its control.

Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Denis Halliday, a former under-secretary general at the U.N. who administered Iraq's oil for food program before his resignation in protest of economic sanctions in 1998. Halliday examines the obstacles ahead for Baghdad's newly appointed interim government and the investigations into scandals involving Iraq's oil revenue.

Related links:



"Iraq: The missing billions," Christian Aid, Oct. 23, 2003

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