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Waxman: White House Knew Of Hunt/Kurdistan Oil Contract

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Today the House oversight committee released a reportasserting that the White House knew about an oil deal between the Kurdistan regional government and Texas-based Hunt Oil, though President George W. Bush had claimed he knew nothing about the contract before it was announced. According to the report, Ray Hunt, President of the company, talked to Bush administration advisers months before the deal was made. Also, officials at the Commerce and State departments encouraged the deal and even congratulated Hunt after obtaining the contract.

The deal embarrassed the Bush administration and outraged the Iraqi government when it was announced in September. Bush criticized both parties for making a deal that bypassed the Iraqi national government, especially impolitic as a national oil law was still not established.
Ogmin

3 responses // Waxman: White House Knew Of Hunt/Kurdistan Oil Contract

  • Also it was a serious slap in the face for the Iraqis who are struggling to pull together a unity government that includes all the large political groups in Iraq. By allowing Hunt to cut a deal with the Kurds, (thereby benefitting only the Kurds) the Whitehouse appears to be giving up on the ideal of a unified Iraqi government.
    Mark701
  • Isn't it quite obvious by now??? Big Oil is more important than any government, or form of government, or ethic of government, or financial solvency of government...
    shelchak
  • http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174956/nick_turse_the_p...
    The Times noted that the company's chief executive, "Ray L. Hunt, a close political ally of President Bush, briefed [the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, of which he was a member] on his contacts with Kurdish officials before the deal was signed." In fact, in a July 2nd letter, Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice: "Documents obtained by the Committee indicate that contrary to the denials of Administration officials, advisors to the President and officials in the State and Commerce Departments knew about Hunt Oil's interest in the Kurdish region months before the contract was executed."

    For the Times, however, the hunt for the story ended with Hunt Oil. No attention was paid to its corporate twin, Hunt Refining, with its own major financial ties to the Pentagon, the President, and the U.S. occupation forces in Iraq. This despite the fact that the company proudly promotes itself as "a significant supplier of jet fuel to the U.S. Department of Defense" in the Southeastern United States.
    HellaDelicious

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