Privatization of Iraqi Oil
Spoils of War to Bush Ally?
Hunt Oil Deal Also Appears To Undercut Oil Revenue Sharing
Benchmark
WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 18, 2007)
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) is seeking answers in
the Administration's involvement in an Iraqi oil deal that
appears to benefit a large Republican donor and ally of
President Bush and Vice President Cheney.
The recent oil deal between the U.S.-based Hunt Oil
Company and the Kurdistan Regional Government raises
questions, since Hunt Oil, a privately held oil company based
in Texas and its founder, Ray Hunt, have close ties to Vice
President Cheney and are large donors to President Bush.
The deal also appears to undercut the goal of oil revenue
sharing but is predictably consistent with the
Administration's attempt to privatize Iraqi oil assets. Both
Hunt Oil Company and Kurdistan are strong allies with the
Bush Administration.
"As I have said for five years, this war is about oil. The Bush
Administration desires private control of Iraqi oil, but we
have no right to force Iraq to give up their oil. We have no
right to set preconditions for Iraq which lead Iraq to giving
up control of their oil. The Constitution of Iraq designates
that the oil of Iraq is the property of all Iraqi people,"
Kucinich said.
Kucinich is calling for a Congressional investigation to
determine the role the Administration may have played in
the Hunt-Kurdistan deal, the effect the deal could have on
the oil revenue sharing plan and the attempt by the
Administration to privatize Iraqi oil.
"The Administration has misled Congress and the media into
thinking that pending Iraqi oil legislation before Iraq's
Parliament was about the fair distribution of oil revenues,"
Kucinich said. "But the Hunt Oil deal with Kurdistan should
expose the real intent of that legislation, and that is,
promoting a privatization scheme."
"It is hard to imagine that in Iraq there is any matter more
controversial than oil. So long as the U.S. occupies Iraq,
there can be nothing more damaging to the United States
world reputation than the awarding of oil agreements to
Bush Administration cronies."
The Hunt Oil deal with Kurdistan suggests the war has made
foreign access to Iraqi oil a reality. The connections between
Hunt Oil Company and the Bush Administration are
numerous:
· Mr. Ray Hunt, CEO of Hunt Oil, acted as the finance
chairman of the Republican National Committee for President
George W. Bush in 2002, led the Republican National
Committee's Victory Fund for President George W. Bush and
personally donated $20,000 to the Committee.
· Mr. Hunt contributed $100,000 toward inaugural festivities
for President George W. Bush in 2001, while Hunt
Consolidated contributed $250,000 toward the 2005 Bush
presidential inaugural gala.
· Mr. Hunt has also given generously toward construction of
the Bush library by securing $35 million in additional property
for the endeavor.
· President George W. Bush has twice appointed Mr. Hunt to
a seat on the Presidents Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board
(PFIAB), which is said to have access to intelligence that
experts acknowledge is advantageous to the international
energy interest of the Hunt Oil Company.
"The contract between Hunt Oil and Kurdistan would be the
first of its kind in the Middle East where oil has been
nationalized for decades and foreign oil companies have had
no presence. The lack of consensus on how to manage the
Iraqi oil resources suggests that the Hunt Oil Company deal
could lead to greater instability within Iraq," Kucinich said.
In response, Kucinich sent a letter to Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice urging an immediate investigation into
Hunt Oil Company's recent production sharing agreement for
petroleum exploration with Kurdistan.
Kucinich also sent a letter to Oversight and Government
Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA),
requesting a full committee hearing to explore Hunt Oil's ties
to the Bush Administration and Halliburton.
Finally, Kucinich will introduce a bill that will prevent U.S.
companies from gaining financial interests in Iraq's oil
resources.
Kucinich has consistently spoken out against the
hydrocarbon law and the U.S. hydrocarbon law benchmark.
Passage of the hydrocarbon law by the Iraqi Parliament is
one of several of the Administration's benchmarks for the
Iraqi government.
"This Administration misled Congress by emphasizing only a
small part of this law, the fair distribution of oil revenues.
Consider the fact that the Iraqi hydrocarbon law contains a
mere three sentences that generally discuss the fair
distribution of oil. Except for three scant lines, the entire 33
page hydrocarbon law is about creating a complex legal
structure to facilitate the privatization of Iraqi oil," Kucinich
said in a speech on the floor of the House of
Representatives on May 10, 2007.
"The war in Iraq is a stain on American history. Let us not
further besmirch our nation by participating in an outrageous
exploitation of a nation, which is in shambles due to the U.S.
intervention," Kucinich said in an hour-long speech on the
floor of the House of Representatives on May 23, 2007.
To see the letters Kucinich wrote to Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice and Oversight and Government Reform
Committee Chairman Waxman go to Kucinich's Web site at
www.kucinich.house.gov <http://www.kucinich.house.gov/>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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