Excerpts from previous updates, by subject:

Removed on August 31, 2005

The weapon search

In May 2004, the Washington Post reported that a 155-millimeter artillery round containing the deadly nerve gas sarin was found at the side of a road by a U.S. military convoy in Baghdad. The bomb detonated before it could be disabled, and two U.S. soldiers suffered minor injuries from exposure to the chemical agent. The shell was designed to release the sarin gas through a binary reaction after being fired from an artillery piece. The persons who rigged the bomb probably did not know the shell contained sarin and treated it as an explosive, which greatly reduced its potency.

Traces of mustard gas were discovered in an artillery shell found in a Baghdad street in May 2004, and an additional 10-12 sarin and mustard gas shells were found by the ISG. Most experts believe the shells were left over from Saddam Hussein's pre-1991 weapon arsenal, which was aimed at Iran. Thus, while the discoveries do not prove the existence of stockpiles of mass destruction weapons, they raise the possibility that more sarin- or mustard-filled shells remain in Iraq. These weapons could be found and used by insurgents, who may take better advantage of their deadly potential in the future.

Political environment

The Assembly is tasked with drafting the new constitution, which must be completed by year end. Talabani predicts a draft will be completed on schedule by August 15. Towards that end, the Assembly elected a committee charged with drafting the new constitution. The committee is dominated by Shiites, but includes 17 Sunni Muslims with full voting rights, and another 10 Sunni Muslims serving in an advisory, non-voting capacity.

Oil-for-food investigation

A report issued by the Volcker investigation in February 2005 criticized the U.N. administration of the oil-for-food program. The report alleges Benon V. Sevan, a native of Cyprus who headed the oil-for-food program, received illicit payoffs from Hussein’s government. It further alleges that Sevan repeatedly solicited and received oil allocations for an Egyptian company run by a cousin of former U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. The report also alleges that three U.N. contractors were selected in processes that violated the established competitive bidding rules. Pending further investigation, Benon Sevan and Joseph Stephanides, who helped start the program and is accused of colluding with Britain’s U.N. ambassador to improperly steer a major contract to a British company, have been suspended

In January 2005, Samir A. Vincent, an Iraqi-American, was the first to enter a guilty plea in conjunction with the oil-for-food scandal. Vincent lobbied the U.S. government to repeal the sanctions against Iraq. In exchange, he received cash and allocations under the oil-for-food program. At least four others have been charged in conjunction with the scandal.

The probes follow on the heels of an assessment by the U.S. General Accounting Office, released in April 2004, which found that Hussein collected $10.1 billion in illegal oil revenues from 1997 to 2002. This consisted of $5.7 from oil smuggled out of Iraq and $4.4 billion from illicit surcharges and kickbacks from suppliers. Most of this money went toward illegal procurement and propping up Saddam's regime.