What a waste of human life but we have some in here still thinking going into Iraq was the right thing to do. Looks like the oil companies won another one as they are getting their greedy hands in Iraq as kids die fighting for this bullshit lie of a war. What a way to use 9/11 to your advantage these no good greedy fukers.
U.S. role questioned in oil deal with Iraqi Kurds
U.S. companies are forbidden to cut deals in Iraq until an oil law is passed, but a Texas firm did so with State Department knowledge, a House committee charges.
By JAMES GLANZand RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr., New York Times
Last update: July 2, 2008 - 11:20 PM
Administration officials knew that a Texas oil company with ties to President Bush was planning to sign an oil deal with the regional Kurdistan government that ran counter to U.S. policy and undercut Iraq's central government, a congressional committee has concluded.
The conclusions were based on e-mail messages and other documents that the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released Wednesday.
U.S. policy is to warn companies that they incur risks in signing contracts until Iraq passes an oil law. The Kurdistan deal, by ceding responsibility for writing contracts directly to a regional government, infuriated Iraqi officials. But State Department officials did nothing to discourage the deal and in some cases appeared to welcome it, the documents show.
The company, Hunt Oil of Dallas, signed the deal with Kurdistan's semi-autonomous government last September. Its chief executive officer, Ray Hunt, a political ally of President Bush, briefed an advisory board to Bush on his contacts with Kurdish officials before the deal was signed.
In an e-mail message released by the committee, a State Department official in Washington, briefed by a colleague about the impending deal with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), wrote: "Many thanks for the heads up; getting an American company to sign a deal with the KRG will make big news back here."
No-bid oil contracts
The document release comes as the administration is defending help that U.S. officials provided in drawing up a separate set of no-bid contracts, still pending, between Iraq's Oil Ministry in Baghdad and five major Western oil companies to provide services at other Iraqi oil fields.
Iraq's oil minister, Hussain al-Shahristani, condemned the Kurdistan deal as illegal because it was not approved by the central government and was struck without an oil law.
After the deal was signed last year, a senior State Department official in Baghdad criticized it, saying, "We believe these contracts have needlessly elevated tensions between the KRG and the national government of Iraq."
The State Department said Wednesday that it had discouraged the deal. Hunt officials declined to comment, and KRG officials said there was no impropriety.
In a letter to the House committee, whose chairman is Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., a State Department official wrote that the department had strongly discouraged Hunt from signing the deal until an oil law had been passed.
The State Department told Hunt that "we continue to advise all companies that they incur significant political and legal risk by signing contracts" before then, wrote Jeffrey Bergner, an assistant secretary for legislative affairs.
But in a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Waxman wrote that the documents his committee collected "tell a different story about the role of administration officials." In letters obtained by the committee, Hunt informed the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, of which he was a member, last July and August that he was pursuing serious deals in Kurdistan.
Flurry of messages
In August 2007, Hunt informed State Department officials directly of his intentions in Kurdistan, and on Sept. 5, three days before the deal was signed, a flurry of e-mail messages among Hunt and State Department officials make clear that the department was aware of what was in the works.
In a message to a colleague with the subject line "Hunt Oil to Sign Contract With KRG," one State Department official gives a highly detailed summary of the deal. "Hunt would be the first U.S. company to sign such a deal," the official wrote, suggesting that the news should be rushed onto the State Department's internal distribution network as quickly as possible.
Despite those exchanges, a State Department official said the company was in fact discouraged from completing its deal.
After the deal was signed last year, a senior State Department official in Baghdad criticized it, saying, "We believe these contracts have needlessly elevated tensions between the KRG and the national government of Iraq."
The State Department said Wednesday that it had discouraged the deal. Hunt officials declined to comment, and KRG officials said there was no impropriety.
In a letter to the House committee, whose chairman is Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., a State Department official wrote that the department had strongly discouraged Hunt from signing the deal until an oil law had been passed.
The State Department told Hunt that "we continue to advise all companies that they incur significant political and legal risk by signing contracts" before then, wrote Jeffrey Bergner, an assistant secretary for legislative affairs.
But in a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Waxman wrote that the documents his committee collected "tell a different story about the role of administration officials." In letters obtained by the committee, Hunt informed the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, of which he was a member, last July and August that he was pursuing serious deals in Kurdistan.
Flurry of messages
In August 2007, Hunt informed State Department officials directly of his intentions in Kurdistan, and on Sept. 5, three days before the deal was signed, a flurry of e-mail messages among Hunt and State Department officials make clear that the department was aware of what was in the works.
In a message to a colleague with the subject line "Hunt Oil to Sign Contract With KRG," one State Department official gives a highly detailed summary of the deal. "Hunt would be the first U.S. company to sign such a deal," the official wrote, suggesting that the news should be rushed onto the State Department's internal distribution network as quickly as possible.
Despite those exchanges, a State Department official said the company was in fact discouraged from completing its deal.
U.S. role questioned in oil deal with Iraqi Kurds
U.S. role questioned in oil deal with Iraqi Kurds
U.S. companies are forbidden to cut deals in Iraq until an oil law is passed, but a Texas firm did so with State Department knowledge, a House committee charges.
By JAMES GLANZand RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr., New York Times
Last update: July 2, 2008 - 11:20 PM
Administration officials knew that a Texas oil company with ties to President Bush was planning to sign an oil deal with the regional Kurdistan government that ran counter to U.S. policy and undercut Iraq's central government, a congressional committee has concluded.
The conclusions were based on e-mail messages and other documents that the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released Wednesday.
U.S. policy is to warn companies that they incur risks in signing contracts until Iraq passes an oil law. The Kurdistan deal, by ceding responsibility for writing contracts directly to a regional government, infuriated Iraqi officials. But State Department officials did nothing to discourage the deal and in some cases appeared to welcome it, the documents show.
The company, Hunt Oil of Dallas, signed the deal with Kurdistan's semi-autonomous government last September. Its chief executive officer, Ray Hunt, a political ally of President Bush, briefed an advisory board to Bush on his contacts with Kurdish officials before the deal was signed.
In an e-mail message released by the committee, a State Department official in Washington, briefed by a colleague about the impending deal with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), wrote: "Many thanks for the heads up; getting an American company to sign a deal with the KRG will make big news back here."
No-bid oil contracts
The document release comes as the administration is defending help that U.S. officials provided in drawing up a separate set of no-bid contracts, still pending, between Iraq's Oil Ministry in Baghdad and five major Western oil companies to provide services at other Iraqi oil fields.
Iraq's oil minister, Hussain al-Shahristani, condemned the Kurdistan deal as illegal because it was not approved by the central government and was struck without an oil law.
After the deal was signed last year, a senior State Department official in Baghdad criticized it, saying, "We believe these contracts have needlessly elevated tensions between the KRG and the national government of Iraq."
The State Department said Wednesday that it had discouraged the deal. Hunt officials declined to comment, and KRG officials said there was no impropriety.
In a letter to the House committee, whose chairman is Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., a State Department official wrote that the department had strongly discouraged Hunt from signing the deal until an oil law had been passed.
The State Department told Hunt that "we continue to advise all companies that they incur significant political and legal risk by signing contracts" before then, wrote Jeffrey Bergner, an assistant secretary for legislative affairs.
But in a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Waxman wrote that the documents his committee collected "tell a different story about the role of administration officials." In letters obtained by the committee, Hunt informed the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, of which he was a member, last July and August that he was pursuing serious deals in Kurdistan.
Flurry of messages
In August 2007, Hunt informed State Department officials directly of his intentions in Kurdistan, and on Sept. 5, three days before the deal was signed, a flurry of e-mail messages among Hunt and State Department officials make clear that the department was aware of what was in the works.
In a message to a colleague with the subject line "Hunt Oil to Sign Contract With KRG," one State Department official gives a highly detailed summary of the deal. "Hunt would be the first U.S. company to sign such a deal," the official wrote, suggesting that the news should be rushed onto the State Department's internal distribution network as quickly as possible.
Despite those exchanges, a State Department official said the company was in fact discouraged from completing its deal.
After the deal was signed last year, a senior State Department official in Baghdad criticized it, saying, "We believe these contracts have needlessly elevated tensions between the KRG and the national government of Iraq."
The State Department said Wednesday that it had discouraged the deal. Hunt officials declined to comment, and KRG officials said there was no impropriety.
In a letter to the House committee, whose chairman is Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., a State Department official wrote that the department had strongly discouraged Hunt from signing the deal until an oil law had been passed.
The State Department told Hunt that "we continue to advise all companies that they incur significant political and legal risk by signing contracts" before then, wrote Jeffrey Bergner, an assistant secretary for legislative affairs.
But in a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Waxman wrote that the documents his committee collected "tell a different story about the role of administration officials." In letters obtained by the committee, Hunt informed the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, of which he was a member, last July and August that he was pursuing serious deals in Kurdistan.
Flurry of messages
In August 2007, Hunt informed State Department officials directly of his intentions in Kurdistan, and on Sept. 5, three days before the deal was signed, a flurry of e-mail messages among Hunt and State Department officials make clear that the department was aware of what was in the works.
In a message to a colleague with the subject line "Hunt Oil to Sign Contract With KRG," one State Department official gives a highly detailed summary of the deal. "Hunt would be the first U.S. company to sign such a deal," the official wrote, suggesting that the news should be rushed onto the State Department's internal distribution network as quickly as possible.
Despite those exchanges, a State Department official said the company was in fact discouraged from completing its deal.
U.S. role questioned in oil deal with Iraqi Kurds
