Smoking gun or smokescreen? by Serene Assir

As to the timing of the report, some believe that a smokescreen is being established to shield not only the Security Council, which was allegedly complicit with the oil-for-food scandal, but the US government, mired in its own domestic and international problems. "I sense Annan was pushed by Washington to have Volcker do public, media-conspicuous, work in order to divert attention from the mess in the US capital with regard to the criminal invasion and occupation of Iraq. Meantime, several Congressional committees are working on studies of US scandals linked to the UN oil-for-food programme -- I have met two committees myself," Halliday told the Weekly.