Dennis Kucinich: Hunt Oil Deal Also Appears To Undercut Oil Revenue Sharing Benchmark

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Kucinich: Privatization of Iraqi Oil—Spoils of War to Bush Ally?
Submitted by davidswanson on Tue, 2007-09-18 23:27. Congress

From the office of Congressman Dennis Kucinich

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.”

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