Door opener
"As [AWB] chairman, I was trotted out to open doors or to be a figure head to take a political beating for the sake of doing business or to perform other ceremonial roles." — Trevor Flugge testifying on February 27 to the Cole inquiry into the payment of $290 million in bribes by wheat exporter AWB to the Iraqi government under the UN's 1996-2003 oil-for-food program. He denied having any knowledge of the payments.
Challenging assignment
"Although it is a lot of money, it was a challenging assignment and a potentially dangerous environment." — Prime Menzies John Howard commenting on February 27 on the government's payment of nearly $1 million to former AWB head Trevor Flugge to act as an "adviser" to the Iraqi agriculture ministry for eight months in 2003. Part of Flugge's job was to "review" the UN oil-for-food contracts.
Vision for democracy
"I appreciate his courage. I appreciate the difficult job he has... I also appreciate our relationship with Pakistan and his vision for a democracy in Pakistan." — Emperor George Bush II commenting on February 22 to Pakistani journalists on Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, a serving army general who seized power in a 1999 coup against an elected government.
Operation Iraqi Freedom
"Faik Bakir, the director of the Baghdad morgue, has fled Iraq in fear of his life after reporting that more than 7000 people have been killed by [interior ministry] death squads in recent months, the outgoing head of the UN human rights office in Iraq has disclosed... The killings had been happening long before the bloodshed after last week's bombing of the Shia shrine in Samarra." — British Guardian, March 2.
From Green Left Weekly, March 15, 2006.
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