I think it's pretty much common knowledge that there were no weapons of mass destruction when we invaded Iraq in March of 2003. Charges of President Bush lying about the illicit weapons went flying abound in the months after the invasion when the Iraq Survey Group turned up everything but the stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons.

Certainly the lack of Bush's primary rationale for war deserved and still deserves intense scrutiny and inquiry to determine what really happened to the weapons.

But there is a controversy of equal weight that has not yet received proper attention.

The other day, I asked a friend of mine if she knew of the missing weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Of course, she said.

I then asked her if she was aware of the oil-for-food scandal involving the United Nations, Saddam Hussein's regime, our allies, France and Russia, billions of dollars and allegations of massive corruption. My friend hadn't heard of it. Not to demean my friend, but I wasn't surprised. In fact, I wonder how many of you know what the oil-for-food scam is all about.

If you haven't a clue, here's a little background into what the editors of National Review say may become "the largest corruption scandal in the history of the world."

The oil-for-food program was originally established in 1996 by the United Nations to help offset the negative effects of the economic sanctions imposed on Iraq following the first Gulf War in 1991. It sought to provide humanitarian relief to the Iraqi people by allowing the Iraqi government to sell its oil on the global market in exchange for food, medicine and other necessities. While oil-for-food did bring some relief to Iraqis, the extent to which Saddam diverted oil funds intended to be spent on humanitarian relief was utterly criminal.

Recent reports say the amount of money Saddam pocketed from illicit transactions totaled $21.3 billion, more than double what was initially estimated. These hefty revenues accrued to this unspeakable level thanks to greedy hands in France and Russia and shameful management by the program's executive director and Secretary-General Kofi Annan's right-hand man, Benon Sevan.

The scam would operate in the following manner. Saddam's government, which had shockingly incredible influence over the price of its oil, sold barrels of crude well below the global market prices to willing customers in France and Russia, who'd then sell their cheap oil at the regular price, bringing in huge profits. Then the French and Russian crooks would keep part of this profit, and "kickback" the rest to Saddam. Rather than spending it on food and infrastructure for the Iraqi people, Hussein funneled it to families of Palestinian suicide bombers, bribed various influential people to keep their mouths shut and -- among God knows what else -- bought illegal arms and munitions.

Saddam's not-surprising mob behavior aside, what is deeply disturbing about this whole affair was what is turning out to be the United Nation's enabling of this level of corruption. On November 20, 2003, the day before the oil-for-food program closed up shop after the fall of Saddam's regime that April, Kofi Annan went out of his way to praise the oil-for-food program and its director, Sevan. But why, on March 19 of this year did Annan, after evidence of corruption came flowing out of Iraq and Congress calling for investigations, acknowledge that "it is highly possible there has been quite a lot of wrongdoing" in the oil-for-food program?

I am not implicating the secretary-general in any illegal acts, but mounting evidence shows that Sevan, the program's director, presided over abuse and corruption. When Sevan's last name appeared on documents recovered from the Iraqi oil ministry, after the war alleging he and 270 others -- including infamous British anti-war parliamentarian George Galloway -- received oil vouchers from Saddam himself, serious questions need to be asked and are being asked.

This case is far from closed, and I have a feeling as investigators in Congress and elsewhere keep pushing the United Nations to open its books, we are going to find an even messier mess. And is it any wonder that the French and the Russians, the two countries on the United Nations Security Council that led the charge in early 2003 opposed the American and British efforts to disarm Saddam?

Clearly, the French and Russians were up to their berets and ushankas -- the big, furry hats the Russians wear -- in oil deals with Saddam Hussein.

Certainly the missing WMD was a devastating blow to the credibility of our intelligence and the Bush administration, but the U.N.'s oil-for-food scam no doubt needs the same level of outrage and scrutiny. Those responsible must be held accountable, and reparations are in order for the people of Iraq who suffered as a result of Saddam's criminality and the U.N.'s duplicity.

The people of Iraq deserve nothing less.