January 30, 2004

ABCNEWS has obtained an extraordinary list that contains the names of prominent people around the world who supported Saddam Hussein's regime and were given oil contracts as a result. The two Americans listed are Iraqi-American businessman Samir Vincent and Shakir Alkhalaji. Vincent earned some fame in 2000 as one of the Iraqi exiles of 1958 who wanted the sanctions lifted, calling them a "political dead end." Vincent also worked with Jack Kemp's Empower America last year. Shakir Alkhalaji, could be a misspelling.  An American businessman named Shakir Alkhafaji produced Scott Ritter's Iraq documentary,"In Shifting Sands." Actually I was surprised not to see Scott Ritters name on the list, maybe this is why. Arthur Millholland, the lone Canadian is remembered for his plea for peace to the Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs in March 2000.  It was there that he bragged about his high level contacts at the Iraqi government, and even declares that "The Iraqis fully admit that they were this close to building a nuclear weapon".    Despite that admission, it looks like he might have had 9.5 million  reasons to want Saddam in power instead of behind bars.   UPDATE: It looks like Empower America has actually deleted the references to Samir Vincent.  The link above now says the message is deleted.   Free Republic has a copy posted. 12:28:23 PM

Rich Danish criminals pay stand-ins to serve sentences Telegraph.co.uk - Lax security at Danish prisons is allowing criminals to hire impersonators to serve their sentences in their place. Wealthy felons have been exploiting Denmark's relaxed criminal justice regime under which there can be a period of months between a conviction and the start of a sentence. During these gaps, as many as 100 doubles are believed to have been hired to present themselves at prison gates to stand in for the real prisoners, earning up to £100 a day. Now, you offer this to the homeless, and bingo.... 12:01:55 PM