Oil-For-Food Trial Turns to Diplomacy

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A businessman implicated in the scandal-ridden United Nations oil-for-food program facilitated unofficial attempts at diplomacy between senior U.S. and Iraqi government officials in the months after the Sept. 11 attacks, according to testimony and documents in the trial of one of his associates, a Texas oil tycoon.
A businessman implicated in the scandal-ridden United Nations oil-for-food program facilitated unofficial attempts at diplomacy between senior U.S. and Iraqi government officials in the months after the Sept. 11 attacks, according to testimony and documents in the trial of one of his associates, a Texas oil tycoon.

Samir Vincent, an Iraqi-American oil-trader who sometimes accompanied oil man Oscar Wyatt to meetings with Iraqi officials, said former Housing Secretary Jack Kemp approached him Oct. 31, 2001, and asked that he carry a message to Iraq's foreign minister, Tariq Aziz, from Secretary of State Colin Powell.

The message, Vincent wrote in documents introduced during the trial, was that the U.S. was willing to loosen economic sanctions if Iraq would again welcome U.N. weapons inspectors into the country.

"Jack added that he found out through his contact with the vice president's office that Dick Cheney had given Powell the green light to proceed with this route," Vincent wrote in a summary of the meeting that he prepared the same day. "There is tremendous pressure from the hawks and hardliners for this administration to attack Iraq, but Powell and Cheney are holding the high ground."
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For years before the U.S. invasion, Kemp had worked on a plan to foster better U.S. relations with Iraq, and in the months after the Sept. 11 attacks, the effort briefly got new life.

Vincent said he met with Aziz in early November 2001 and that Aziz offered a written response that Iraq would be prepared to deal with U.S. concerns "in a constructive manner" once the U.S. lifted the embargo, canceled the no-fly zones it had imposed on parts of the country and stopped "interfering in Iraq's internal affairs."

Wyatt, 83, faces federal charges that he paid millions of dollars in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime in exchange for lucrative contracts awarded through the oil-for-food program.

Much of the trial, which began last week, is expected to focus on Wyatt's unusual contacts with Iraqi officials.

On Monday and Tuesday, jurors heard from Vincent. Prosecutors called Vincent to the stand predominantly to talk about his role in the corrupt program, but he also testified about his role in some ill-fated back-door diplomacy fostered Kemp.

Vincent wrote that he also met privately with General Tahir Haboush, the director of Iraq's intelligence service, who made a slightly more encouraging offer.

"Based on the events of September 11th, Iraq believes now that the time is appropriate for serious dialogue, with no conditions, to resolve all outstanding problems between the two countries," Vincent wrote in a memo. "They feel Iraq is just as vulnerable to fundamentalist attack as the U.S. has been. They have been fighting it themselves and can contribute effectively to U.S. efforts to contain it."

Haboush, he said, believed that if the relationship between the U.S. and Iraq improved, "all Iraqi resources will be coordinated with U.S. efforts to fight fundamentalist terrorism."

In the end, these behind-the-scenes communications bore no fruit. Two months later, President Bush labeled Iraq part of an "axis of evil."

Kemp, who through an attorney has acknowledged being in contact with Vincent about his Iraq peace efforts, did not immediately respond to a phone and e-mail message Tuesday.

Wyatt's trial is expected to last several weeks.


(This version CORRECTS to say Vincent facilitated diplomacy and that detail on trip was contained in documents.)