Ray L. Hunt Does oil deal with Kurds

[SteveGrenard]

One news show indicated Hunt donated $35 Million to put up the building which will house the GWB Presidential Library at SMU. This is very generous so we should all be glad Hunt's company was able to accomplish a side deal with the Iraqui kurds for oil rights. Some blogs don't agree:



Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo sees cronyism leading all the way back to Texas: "The story though connects up with another one … the decision of the Kurdistan regional government to sign an oil exploration deal with Dallas-based Hunt Oil, run by Mr. Ray L. Hunt. …[R]emember, Hunt, ... is also a pal of the president's. Indeed, President Bush has twice appointed Hunt to his Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. So while the president is striving to get the Iraqis to meet these benchmarks one of his own pals -- and more importantly, political appointees -- is busy helping to tear the whole thing apart."

http://www.slate.com/id/2174011/



Agreements, production-sharing contracts, with foreign oil companies, which has led to harsh words between the Kurds and central Iraqi government officials and threatens passage of the national production-sharing plan. One of the companies the Kurds have signed an agreement with is Hunt Oil. According to CBS News (Sept. 9) CEO Ray Hunt is on the board of Halliburton and "has been a key fundraiser for President George W. Bush, who named him to the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board." Perhaps what President Bush is really telling us is that we will have an "enduring relationship" with Iraq until FOB (Friends of Bush) are assured of getting their oil profits.
http://www.politicalcortex.com/story/2007/9/14/52938/0479

[Gurdur]

Thank heavens he was not given the first name "Michael".

[jsiv]

Can you really fault companies for wanting to take advantage of the situation, though?

I know that the Norwegian DNO is drilling in Northern Iraq, as is a Swedish company whose name I've forgotten, and I suspect also companies in several other nations.

Of course, the link to the Bush administration in this case is a little troubling.

[davefoc]

This is a part of the story that involves corruption so profound and cynical in the white house that I don't quite believe it.

I would not argue against the idea that the Bush administration is the most corrupt and/or inept of my life. But the accusation against the Bush administration on this is that they are exacerbating the Iraqi civil war by advocating for Iraqi oil policies designed to benefit American oil companies regardless of the effect on Iraqi reconciliation. I'm not convinced either way.

It seems incredible that any American administration would lead troops to their death every day for the goal of allowing one side in this civil war to keep all the oil and maximally enrich American oil companies.

But the depth and range of Bushco corruption over the last six years makes it seem at least plausible.

[Darth Rotor]

This is a part of the story that involves corruption so profound and cynical in the white house that I don't quite believe it.

I would not argue against the idea that the Bush administration is the most corrupt and/or inept of my life. But the accusation against the Bush administration on this is that they are exacerbating the Iraqi civil war by advocating for Iraqi oil policies designed to benefit American oil companies regardless of the effect on Iraqi reconciliation. I'm not convinced either way.

It seems incredible that any American administration would lead troops to their death every day for the goal of allowing one side in this civil war to keep all the oil and maximally enrich American oil companies.

But the depth and range of Bushco corruption over the last six years makes it seem at least plausible.
Before someone else does, I'll note that Smedley Butler wrote a well known commentary entitled "War is a Racket." Of course, his pet peeve was FDR, but times change.

DR

[Beerina]

Before someone else does, I'll note that Smedley Butler wrote a well known commentary entitled "War is a Racket." Of course, his pet peeve was FDR, but times change.

DR

No they don't. That's the problem.

[SteveGrenard]

This is a part of the story that involves corruption so profound and cynical in the white house that I don't quite believe it.

I would not argue against the idea that the Bush administration is the most corrupt and/or inept of my life. But the accusation against the Bush administration on this is that they are exacerbating the Iraqi civil war by advocating for Iraqi oil policies designed to benefit American oil companies regardless of the effect on Iraqi reconciliation. I'm not convinced either way.

It seems incredible that any American administration would lead troops to their death every day for the goal of allowing one side in this civil war to keep all the oil and maximally enrich American oil companies.

But the depth and range of Bushco corruption over the last six years makes it seem at least plausible.

You can believe it ....besides oil, there's drugs:


Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Bolivia escaped U.S. sanctions for its place as the third-largest producer of coca leaves used to make cocaine even as the Bush administration called the country's efforts against narcotics ``uneven.''
The Bolivian government's measures, including a plan to eradicate 5,600 hectares (13,800 acres) of coca this year, ``have been outstripped by replanting and expansion of cultivation,'' according to an annual White House report to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Still, the administration declined to name Bolivia as the third country to have ``failed demonstrably'' in counter-narcotics efforts.



There is nothing more seemingly corrupt, bizarre and cynical as well as hypocritical than the Bush White House’s drug policy:



Bolivia is among 20 countries cited by the White House as major drug producers or transit points, a list that hasn't changed since last year's report. Venezuela and Myanmar again are the only two designated as having failed to take adequate steps.

President George W. Bush's administration gave Venezuela a waiver for a second year from sanctions such as withholding aid, citing ``vital national interests.''

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aKjI4EBTpCA8&refer=latin_america

Bush would like to take Chavez and wring his neck but when it comes to drugs it waiver time.
Could those vital national interests be a three letter word beginning with "o."?

I wonder if the world’s number producer of heroin is going to get a waiver from Bush this year? … oh, never mind, here’s what the White House has to say about numero uno:


The White House report said despite a strong anti-drug commitment by Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai, a third of the Afghan economy remains opium-based and that the government at all levels needs to be held accountable to deter poppy cultivation.


http://voanews.com/english/2007-09-17-voa46.cfm


I wonder who’s responsible for that? ………