In 2001, Scott Ritter (the ex-marine and now pro-Saddam Hussein analyst) released his documentary In Shifting Sands: The Truth About UNSCOM and the Disarming of Iraq. That the US$400,000 in funding for this film, nominally paid for by Shakir al-Khafaji, a Detroit-based businessman of Iraqi origin, came ultimately from the government of Saddam Hussein was never much in doubt. But what uncertainty may have existed has been blown away with Khafaji's admission that he received illicit oil allocations from the UN oil-for-food program at the same time he was financing Ritter, as reported today in the Financial Times. The paper explains that the scheme was developed so that the names of beneficiaries like Khafaji were not recorded by the United Nations, allowing them to assert they took no funds from Baghdad.
As for me, I am listed as "starring" in this film, yet I got to state in it that "I believe nothing that comes out of Iraqi official circles. Nothing." How satisfying to know for sure that this was paid for by Saddam Hussein. (April 12, 2004)
Oct. 8, 2004 update: Charles Duelfer's Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the DCI on Iraq's WMD, released today, includes mention of Shakir al-Khafaji as someone who received some of Saddam Hussein's vouchers, enabling him to buy Iraqi oil at a discount and then sell it at market prices.
March 1, 2005 update: At "Islamists Make Me a Movie Star," I reveal the next developments in my exciting movie career. On a more serious note, I do have my own page at the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), but not due to these movies.
