Prior to the October 2005 release of Paul Volcker's report on violations of the United Nations' Iraq oil-for-food program, the Australian wheat exporter AWB Limited [3] hired the Washington DC lobbying firm The Cohen Group [4], which is headed by former U.S. defense secretary William S. Cohen [5]. AWB paid approximately $A300 million in trucking fees on its wheat contracts to a Jordanian company, Alia, which owns no trucks. The funds were funnelled to Saddam Hussein [6]'s government, according to information given to an Australian government-appointed Royal Commission. Last week, AWB Middle East Marketing Manager Chris Whitwell mentioned [7] The Cohen Group when asked about diary entries related to "develop[ing] a communications strategy." Whitwell said "Chalabi - link to Alia" referred to Ahmed Chalabi [8], as "he and Alia have some issues." Stanley McDermott, a partner in the law firm DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary [9], which has a "strategic alliance" with The Cohen Group, has also advised AWB.