U.S. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, who once attributed Osama bin Laden's popularity to all the day care centers he built in Afghanistan, has issued a statement lambasting the Australians for selling wheat to Iraqis.

In a letter to President Bush, she writes:

I strongly encourage you to convene an inter-agency task force to investigate reports of unusual wheat sales from the Australian Wheat Board to the former Iraqi government through the United Nation’s Oil for Food program.

A recent news report disclosed that in January 2003, the former Iraqi government contracted to purchase wheat from the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) that was nearly double the price of wheat produced in the United States. This revelation raises serious questions about the tactics used by the AWB in negotiating contracts with the former Iraqi government and requires further scrutiny of existing AWB contracts with the Provisional Government of Iraq...

Australia is an ally and an important trade partner. However, with a $20 billion request to rebuild Iraq now before the Congress, U.S. taxpayers have a right to ask if Australia acted improperly in close cooperation with the former government of Saddam Hussein to manipulate wheat sales.

Whether the issue is now moot, because Australia helped the U.S. manipulate Saddam Hussein's government into oblivion, was not immediately addressed by the White House.

For the record, though, the Oil-for-Food Programme was run under the auspices of the United Nations. When she opposed the Congressional resolution to support military action in Iraq, Murray said she preferred a greater role for the U.N. in Iraq, as opposed to military action.