WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Saddam Hussein's regime was able to illegally earn $11 billion during the time it was under economic sanctions, according to a new government report.
Saddam entered into numerous government to government agreements that netted him $7.5 billion and got another $2 billion in kickbacks associated with the U.N. administered oil-for-food program that allowed Iraq to sell oil if it used the proceeds for humanitarian aid for its population.
Saddam earned about $990 million from smuggling oil -- much of it to NATO ally Turkey, which received from 40,000 to 80,000 barrels a day via Turkish trucks sent over the border. He also received another $230 million from other surcharges, according to the report from Charles Duelfer, the head of the Iraq Survey Group that is leading the search for Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction.
Iraq was successfully whittling away at the sanctions until the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States, when much of that illegal trade abruptly halted, Duelfer siad.
Duelfer told Congress Wednesday there is only a 5 percent chance any such weapons of mass destruction exist or will be found.
