The Bad Hair Blog has further information and speculation on the possible involvement of Marc Rich, famously pardoned at the very last minute by Bill Clinton, in the UN Oil for Food scandal. I cannot say that I am in the least surprised.

Whatever else you think about him, credit Marc Rich with a genius at being able to construct and manipulate very long chains of transactions, impervious to fornsic inquiry, for transferring money from one party to another, with no one being the wiser. His early training in metals trading taught him the skill of following commodities and money through complex channels, some of them constructed to deter observation.

This sort of skill is very valuable indeed to various, ahem, powerful interests who have an interest in remaining hidden. The observable fact that Rich seems unscrupulous means that the default assumption should always be the worst. Who else do you suppose is capable of hiding funds transfers accumulating well ionto the billions? The list is pretty short.

hat tip: Roger L Simon

Thomas Lifson   12 2 04