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Possible Saddam-Al Qaeda Link Seen in U.N. Oil-for-Food Program
September 20, 2004
By Claudia Rosett and George Russell

LUGANO, Switzerland - Did Saddam Hussein use any of
his ill-gotten billions filched from the United Nations Oil-for-Food
program to help fund Al Qaeda?

Investigations have shown that the former Iraqi
dictator grafted and smuggled more than $10 billion from the program
that for seven years prior to Saddam's overthrow was meant to bring
humanitarian aid to ordinary Iraqis. And the Sept. 11 Commission has
shown a tracery of contacts between Saddam and Al Qaeda (search) that
continued after billions of Oil-for-Food dollars began pouring into
Saddam's coffers and Usama bin Laden (search) declared his infamous war
on the U.S.

Now, buried in some of the United Nation's own
confidential documents, clues can be seen that underscore the
possibility of just such a Saddam-Al Qaeda link - clues leading to a
locked door in this Swiss lakeside resort. (To review a series of
documents, audits and other stories related to Oil-for-Food, click
here.)

Next to that door, a festive sign spells out in
gold letters under a green flag that this is the office of MIGA, the
Malaysian Swiss Gulf and African Chamber (search). Registered here 20
years ago as a society to promote business between the Gulf States and
Asia, Europe and Africa, MIGA is a company that the United Nations and
the U.S. government says has served as a hub of Al Qaeda finance: A
terrorist chamber of commerce.

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