A Wall Street Journal investigation revealed that lax UN supervision of Iraqi oil sales have allowed Saddam Hissein to extort some $300 million from buyers of Iraqi oil (via kickbacks and bogus surcharges). The money has gone to keep Saddam in power via weapons purchases and gifts for Saddam's supporters. Meanwhile, Saddam makes friends with his neighbors, sends money to Palestinian terrorists and leads on the UN about the resumption of  arms inspections in order to make it more difficult for the US to launch an invasion of Iraq.