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[World War 4 Report blogs] Iraq: Peter Galbraith scandal opens window on oil struggle | World ...: The Iraqi Parliament still has not approved an oil law, but earlier this year Baghdad began seeking oil production deals of its own with international companies, including a preliminary agreement with a consortium of British Petroleum and the Chinese National Petroleum Company to develop the enormous Rumalia field in southern Iraq.

[Psyche, Science, and Society] Psyche, Science, and Society » Peter Galbraith pushed Iraqi ...: The New York Times reveals that noted foreign policy expert, partial author of the Iraqi Constitution, and advocate of Kurdish autonomy, Peter Galbraith, stands to gain upwards of $100 million from secret investments in Kurdish oil. After playing a key role in enabling the invasion of Iraq, Galbraith first became one of a handful of U.S. officials who worked on writing the Iraqi Constitution, and after he resigned from the government, he then continuously posed as an .

[Mike the Mad Biologist] Peter Galbraith: Others' Blood for Iraq'sHis Oil : Mike the Mad ...: ...Referring to the Constitution negotiations, Abdul-Hadi al-Hassani, vice chairman of the oil and gas committee in the Iraqi Parliament, said that Mr. Galbraith's "interference was not justified, illegal and not right, particularly because he is involved in a company where his financial interests have been merged with the political interest."

[Raw Story] Former US diplomat could make 'hundreds of millions' off Iraqi oil ...: According to the Times, Galbraith was instrumental in helping Kurdistan gain semi-autonomy under Iraq's constitution, which gave the Kurdish regional government control over future oil development. At the time, by Galbraith's own admission, he was being paid by DNO to help negotiate oil contracts with the Kurdish government.

[KPCC: Latest News] Adviser sees no conflict in Kurdish oil deals | 89.3 KPCC: Former U.S. diplomat Peter Galbraith talks to Melissa Block about accusations of conflicts of interest when he advised the Kurdish government about the drafting of Iraq's constitution. He says that when entered a business relationship with a Norwegian oil company a year later, the Kurds knew about the relationship and there was no conflict of interest.

[Economic Principals] Economic Principals » Blog Archive » Sound Familiar?: And as a frequent contributor to Public Broadcasting news shows, The New York Review of Books and op-ed pages, including that of the Times, he routinely permitted himself to be described in ways that provide no clue to his business interests, as “a former ambassador,” or “an unpaid adviser to the Kurdish government.”  To be considered, too, is the effect of the disclosures on Iraq’s various Sunni and Shi’a factions. Glanz and Gibbs wrote, “As the scope of Mr.

[Attack Machine] Biden's Iraq Scandal | Attack Machine: IN a surge of realism, the Senate has voted 75-23 to acknowledge that Iraq has broken up and cannot be put back together. The measure, co-sponsored by Joe Biden, a Democratic presidential candidate, and Sam Brownback, Republican of Kansas, supports a plan for Iraq to become a loose confederation of three regions ”” a Kurdish area in the north, a Shiite region in the south and a Sunni enclave in the center ”” with the national government in Baghdad having few powers other than to manage the equitable distribution of oil revenues.

[Iraq and Gulf Analysis] Galbraith Was Paid by DNO when He Sat in on Sensitive ...: Perhaps the single most significant piece of new information in the story is the confirmation that Peter Galbraith, whose consultancy work for DNO in 2004 has previously been revealed by DN, also received payment from DNO in 2005, “throughout the constitutional negotiations in 2005 and later.” On this aspect, Iraq’s former ambassador to the UN, Feisal Amin al-Istrabadi comments to the NYT as follows:  “The idea that an oil company was participating in the drafting of the Iraqi Constitution leaves me speechless”. Istrabadi emphasises that DNO in practice had “a representative in the room, drafting.”

[The Guerilla Post] The Guerilla Post: Maybe They Aren't All Crazy, After All: Of course, these conspiracy theories don't sound so far-fetched now, do they, as a former US Ambassador and the Kurds have conspired to help themselves to Iraqi oil, oil which Iraq desperately needs as it tries to rebuild. Oil which it will need to sell if the US taxpayer has any hope of ever freeing itself from the burden of supporting Iraq.

[The daily irrelevant] The daily irrelevant » U.S. Adviser to Kurds Stands to Reap Oil ...: “The idea that an oil company was participating in the drafting of the Iraqi Constitution leaves me speechless,” said Feisal Amin al-Istrabadi, a principal drafter of the law that governed Iraq after the United States ceded control to an Iraqi government on June 28, 2004.

[WELCOME TO MY NEW WORLD] WELCOME TO MY NEW WORLD - American Advisor to Kurds Stands to Reap ...: Galbraith last weekend, he responded in writing to The Times, confirming that he did work as a mediator between DNO and the Kurdish government until the oil contract was signed in the spring of 2004, and saying that he maintained an “ongoing business relationship” with the company throughout the constitutional negotiations in 2005 and later.

[Beltway Confidential] NYT dishonestly distances Biden from alleged corruption ...: Secondly, Galbraith never "used his political influence to get rich off Iraqi oil money." The Tawke oil field, which the NYT says Galbraith has an interest in, is located in Kurdistan Regional Government areas and was developed only recently. According to the Iraqi constitution, that oil belongs to the regional government in Erbil, not the federal government in Baghdad.

[Dear Kitty. Some blog] Dear Kitty. Some blog :: US official gets hundreds of millions in ...: In 2004, Galbraith helped the Kurds arrange deals with Norwegian oil firm DNO and prepare for negotiations on the Iraqi Constitution, including controversial provisions on how to divide Iraq's oil revenues. During the 2005 negotiations, .

[The Prog Blog] The Prog Blog » Blog Archive » Galbraith's Timing: This all gets sticky when it’s revealed that Galbraith helped Iraq write it’s Constitution. The very Constitution that spells out how the Kurds have almost complete control over oil found inside their territory leaving the central government in Baghdad high and dry.

[Kanan48] Iraq Oil Scandal Threatens Former U.S. Diplomat Galbraith. By ...: “It is often in the news because it was a pioneer in northern Iraq and its shares on the Oslo stock exchange go up and down with developments there. We were not looking for Galbraith’s name at all, so finding it on [Porcupine's] founding documents in Delaware was quite a surprise for us.”

[Jay Bookman] Iraq opening to business: 'Occupiers' need not apply | Jay Bookman: Wedged between two larger, hostile powers””Turkey to the north, and the rest of Iraq to the south””they are generally at the mercy of shifts in broader regional politics, and their oil industry in particular is the target of unscrupulous operators like Galbraith.

Reflected tags on Technorati: Blog, Iraq Constitution, Iran Reviews