EDITORIAL: Politicizing intelligence

On March 10, 2009, Douglas Hagmann, director of the Northeast Intelligence Network, erroneously reported that Michigan resident and businessman Shakir al-Khafaji "pled guilty to multiple felony charges for his role in the U.N. Oil-for-Food scandal..." That statement is absolutely incorrect as pointed out by his attorney in a letter to this agency dated February 10, 2010 demanding a retraction. Mr. al-Khafaji was was neither charged nor convicted of any crime with respect to his activities with the Oil for Food program. His attorney, Sheldon S. Toll, has also advised us that Mr. al-Khafaji has, inf fact, "received two commendations from the United States Government for his undercover work in counter-terrorism."

We nonetheless stand by the reports that Shakir al-Khafaji was identified as one of three Americans by Iraqi newspapers and in the Independent Report on the Manipulation of the Oil-for-Food Program dated 27 October 2005 as a participant with Saddam Hussein in the UN’s “Oil for Food” scandal. It has been reported that Shakir al-Khafaji conducted an estimated $50- $70 million in business with Saddam Hussein through his trading company based outside of the U.S. Mr. al-Khafaji is specifically identified in the Report on Program Manipulation; Chapter 2; Oil Transactions & Illicit Payments although was never charged with any criminal wrongdoing as erroneously reported.

We regret the error of our initial statement and any confusion relative to our initial retraction. We apologize for this error and therefore fully retract the erroneous statement as requested by the most recent legal correspondence we received.