Iraq Oil Report

Reps. Henry Waxman, chair of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Subcommittee on Domestic Policy chair Dennis Kucinich have sent a letter to Ray Hunt, the CEO, and Ambassador Ryan Crocker demanding answers to questions regarding the September deal between Hunt Oil and the Kurdistan Regional Government.

Specifically, the Committee wants to know what, if any, information Ray Hunt received as a sitting member of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and used in deciding the deal.

The letters, which can be viewed here, also call for communications between Hunt, the State Department, and Iraq’s federal or regional governments.

Ray Hunt initially said there were no talks between his company and the government, but I discovered the real deal and reported it Friday.

Read my entire story for UPI here.

Kucinich, a vocal war critic from the start, who typically highlights the oil issue, has called for an investigation already. The Waxman-Kucinich letters give Crocker and Hunt until Nov. 2 to reply. They say they’re deciding whether to launch a formal investigation.

Rep. Edward Markey has sent a second letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice demanding answers to questions he has on the oil deal.

Walid Khadduri writes in Dar Al-Hayat on The Impact of Oil Contracts for the Government of Iraqi Kurdistan.

The New York Times Editorial Board also takes a stab at Iraqi Oil Spoils.

While attention in the states focuses on the U.S. connection, a battle has been brewing between Irbil and Baghdad on this and other oil contracts. KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani defends the deals.

Iraq’s Oil

An attack on a Basra pipeline marks a potentially huge problem for the oil sector. It already faces critical attacks on a northern pipeline, but violence in the south, where most of the oil is located, processed, transported and exported, has stayed away from oil.

“It’s The Oil,” argues Jim Holt in the London Review of Books.

Society, Security and Politics

It’s Only Bad Luck, McClatchy Newspapers’ Iraqi staff write on their Baghdad bureau’s blog.

The intense amount of bad news leaves Jim Golby wanting something good. The Army captain on his second tour of duty in Iraq writes about Getting Iraq To Work in the Washington Post.

U.S. statements on Iraqi improvements have Claude Salhani of UPI thinking about The Five O’Clock Follies from Vietnam.

“Not So Fast” writes William S. Lind for UPI, arguing the limited decrease in violence in Anbar province does not mean victory.

The Iraq Press Roundup by UPI’s Hiba Dawood.

—-