Editorial on Iran/Halliburton Oil Deal

[TexasLawyer]

From Asia Times

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GA14Ak01.html

The Iran/Halliburton oil deal is a big story, since it may mean that the U.S.has decided that it is better to have constructive engagement with Iran rather than bombing the living crap out of that country. It should be obvious that the former is better than the latter, but we're talking about Bushco, so you never know.

Alternatively, this is just more Halliburton graft, and a prelude to more problems up the road. Some have argued that this agreement constitutes a violation of the U.S. Iran trade embargo, and from some angles it looks as if it is a classic shakedown-- "you let my Halliburton pals have this nice contract, Iran, and maybe we won't attack you. We'll just go attack Syria instead."

Iran's goal is to triple its oil output by 2010, and this Halliburton drilling contract will help with that goal. Just hope that the power-mad Iranian theocracy doesn't go all "axis of evil" on us and use all its oil money on yet more dangerous warheads for its allegedly ever-growing nuclear arsenal of doom. We might have to get ugly with Iran after all.

And hey, aren't they mostly Shi'ite over there in Iran, and aren't we afraid that the Shi'ite majority in Iraq is going to cozy up with Iran and further heat up the Iraqi civil war pressure cooker? And wasn't Chalabi some kind of Iranian spy?

Maybe this deal is not such a positive sign after all. Geez, how have I become so cynical?!? Anyway, interesting article and interesting situation.


Jan 14, 2005

The business end of US, Iran ties
By M K Bhadrakumar

The timing of the Iranian decision to take the lid off US company Halliburton's involvement in a giant gas field project in Iran comes at a point when the school of thinking in the US that the Bush administration must opt for a policy of constructive engagement with Tehran has incrementally gained currency in debates over Iran, including in conservative think-tanks.

This week, Iran said that a subsidiary of Halliburton, the Cayman Islands-registered Halliburton Products & Services Ltd would work as a sub-contractor with Oriental Kish Co, an Iranian company, in the South Pars field, believed to be the world's largest natural gas field. An unnamed Pars company board member said the deal for the gas fields in the Persian Gulf off the south coast of Iran was worth about US$310 million.

The latest instance of the "engage Iran" school is a US advocacy group dominated by prominent figures of the Republican Party, the Committee on the Present Danger (CPD), which, in a paper titled "Iran: A New Approach" calls for the re-opening of diplomatic relations with Tehran, bringing to an end the 25-year estrangement in US-Iran relations following the hostage crisis in the American embassy in Tehran in 1979, shortly after the Islamic revolution of that year. CPD is co-chaired by the former US secretary of state George Schultz and former director of the Central Intelligence Agency James Woolsey. Indeed, the Bush administration has all but piped down its rhetoric over Iran lately.

But Iran seems to be seeking some transparency over the Bush administration's intentions. Certainly, the deal over South Pars will be profitable for Texas-based Halliburton. But Iranians do not want to be treated as a one-night stand by the Bush administration either. They would seek a more predictable, enduring, mutually beneficial relationship with the US - indeed, they always wanted it.

Washington's reaction to the media "leak" in Tehran two days back will be keenly watched. The (multi) million-dollar question is whether the Halliburton deal constitutes the first meaningful step of a concerted American diplomatic effort to engage Iran constructively. The initial reaction among the American strategic community is that there's some kind of a "dance" going on here.

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