From Jun 15 Scarborough Country transcript--scroll down past commercial break for the Time Mag poll discussion:
>>The Iraqi Oil Ministry published a list of 270 recipients of the oil voucher program from Saddam—it was worth millions—including Kofi Annan‘s friend, the director of the program, Mr. Sevan, the former French foreign minister, the head of the major French oil firm, dozens of Russians, including a nationalist, and the PLO.
And it just seems funny how all of these people were defenders of Saddam Hussein leading into the war, certainly the French, the Russians, the Germans, where a lot of this money goes, Ian. Isn‘t it strange that a lot of these same companies, these same countries, were the very ones that stopped George Bush at the United Nations from going into Iraq?
WILLIAMS: Well, look, there‘s two things.
First of all, they might well have taken money. And, certainly, the French and the Russians had a financial interest in supporting Iraq. But has anyone seen these 500 boxes of files in the warehouse? How can you make an unqualified assumption that these files are going to reveal anything other than common or garden invoices?
It‘s wild leap in the dark to assume that every bank file is a sort of smoking gun waiting to blow up in front of—in somebody‘s face. The $10 billion was not the U.N.‘s money.
SCARBOROUGH: Let me read you what the General Accounting Office said. And I was in Congress. And when I was in Congress, it didn‘t matter if a Republican was president or a Democrat was president. They pretty much shot it straight.
They said this: Saddam earned $67 billion from the oil-for-food program from 1997 to 2003, plus an additional $10 billion from smuggling and illegal charges, all under the noses of the Security Council.
Now, John, answer Ian‘s question. How do we know, how does the GAO know, how do all of these independent reporters seem to know what happened at the United Nations, if it all goes back to one document, as Ian is claiming here tonight?
LOFTUS: Oh, I think Safire has quoted two officials of BNP. This was the bank that held all the records. And they‘ve say, yes, we know where the records. We know what‘s in them. This is how the system works. We know what‘s there and we know what Saddam bought.
All we want is the documents to see who was signing off, who was letting Saddam buy palaces and luxury items, when his people were starving to death. And those names are the names of the very people that were in charge of the program. Kofi Annan was in charge of it. This was his staff, his office. Benon worked for him. Kofi‘s son was in charge of security. There‘s no way out of this.
What they are doing is trying to stall turning over the documents until everyone can retire and move on and get a new job. Kofi is going to be, what, the new head of the Arab League, I guess is his next job.
SCARBOROUGH: OK.
Thanks so much, John Loftus. We appreciate it. Ian Williams, thank you for joining us.
And, of course, this story has been followed by “The Wall Street Journal” for some time. And also on the op-ed pages of “The New York Times,” Bill Safire has been doing an incredible job digging up dirt at the U.N. There‘s a lot of dirt to dig up there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCARBOROUGH: According to a new “TIME” magazine poll, in a three-way race, President Bush leads John Kerry by five points, 48 percent to 43 percent, with Ralph Nader at 6 percent.
I asked the southeast regional director for the Bush campaign, why the media was completely ignoring these first positive poll numbers that George Bush has had in months.
SOUTHEAST CHAIRMAN, BUSH-CHENEY CAMPAIGN: It‘s amazing, isn‘t it?
They do a survey in which the president is actually ahead. And somehow it just doesn‘t seem as interesting, does it? But, look, the fact is this, Joe, that we are going to have polls bouncing all over the place.
We believe, in the end, this race is going to be extremely close. It will be probably as close as 2000. And the president will prevail.
And I think that the critics and those that suggest that his moral clarity and that his spiritual compass is somehow a liability in the Oval Office are going to discover the oppositeThat this president, after September 11, went to a Muslim mosque, removed his shoes, stood with Muslim clerics and said, this is not a religious or a holy war, that was an act of moral courage. It was an act of compassion. And history will show that this is a great president who has a heart and concern for all people around the world, including those who don‘t share his faith.
SCARBOROUGH: How important do you think it‘s going to play a role this year in the race between John Kerry, George Bush, and Ralph Nader?
REED: Well, I think it will be important, because I think that the American people are hungering for leadership.
They are hungering for leadership that will speak with moral clarity in the war against terrorism. They are hungering for leadership that is compassionate and cares for those that are hurting and have been left behind. And they are looking for a leader that will look them in the eyes and tell them the truth. And even when they occasionally disagree with that president, they know they can take to the bank what he just shared with them, because he is an authentic individual.
Obviously, I believe that president is George W. Bush. I think that the strength of his character, the resolve of his convictions and the compassion of his faith are going to be a big factor in why he is going to be reelected in November.
I will say this, though, Joe. I read the “TIME” magazine story. And I think they do two things. No. 1, I think they draw an unfair caricature of the president‘s faith, as being somewhat self-righteous and messianic, which, if you know the president, it‘s nothing like that. And, No. 2, I think frankly they overstate the role that religion will play in this election.
In the end, while religion will be an issue, I think the most important issues are strengthening this economy and creating jobs, winning the war against terrorism. And President Bush is doing both of those things.
Hey, thanks a lot for being with us tonight. Hope you have a great night. We‘ll see you tomorrow.
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