ALL THE GOODIES ON THE FRENCH OIL SCANDAL ARE HERE It's big. This page will link all the way back into the 80's if you are interested. Bill Quick also different links HERE This is Old Europe at its finest. And here's the best one yet.

U.S. intelligence agencies are intensifying the search in Europe for officials of Saddam Hussein's government who fled Iraq with the help of French passports, U.S. officials said yesterday. The search efforts were strengthened after intelligence sources reported that France's government secretly provided fleeing Iraqi officials with European Union travel documents in Syria that allowed them to escape to other countries, said U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The piece concludes with the usual fuzzy denial by the French:

Said spokeswoman Nathalie Loiseau: "There's no basis to it. There is not one Iraqi official in Europe thanks to France."

Meaning: somebody else gave them the French passports. Or they are not in Europe. Is Russia a part of Europe? And so on into the night. Happy Days.