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[Iraq and Gulf Analysis] Once More, Peter Galbraith Fails to Clear His Name « Iraq and Gulf ...: 13 of a report entitled Iraq’s Constitutional Process II from 2005 describes how the “Kurdish parties were able to invite into the ad hoc meetings [where Kurdish and Shiite leaders designed the shape of the new constitution] experienced non-Iraqi international negotiators and constitutional lawyers, including former U.S. diplomat Peter Galbraith and University of Maryland Professor Karol Soltan, to advance the Kurdish case.” Again, what was he doing there, if he had a business interest in DNO? This truly is a “private citizen” extraordinaire, with access to all areas, and clearly so active that even open-source materials attest to his influential role.

[KurdNet News ekurd.net] Former U.S. ambassador to Croatia, Peter Galbraith held stakes in ...: While he was advising the Kurds on the principles of federalism and trying to persuade an American Democratic audience about the virtues of partition as an alternative to the Bush administration policies in Iraq, Galbraith supposedly held a 5 per cent stake in an oil field whose profit potential was directly governed by the constitutional and US policy decisions Galbraith was seeking to influence (his suggestions also included the idea of a permanent US airbase in Kurdistan). Under any circumstances, this new development is likely to strengthen the tendency among Iraqis to be more critical about the details of the 2005 constitution and not least the historical context in which it was conceived – a criticism that even Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki articulated during the run-up to the last local elections.

[NPSIA] Afghanistan: War of Necessity or Quagmire? | NPSIA: In other roles, Peter Galbraith was the first US Ambassador to Croatia, was Director for Political, Constitutional and Electoral Affairs for the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) and a Cabinet Member in the First Transitional Government of East Timor during which time he designed the territory’s first interim government and the process to write East Timor’s permanent constitution.  He also negotiated two treaties on East Timor’s behalf with Australia that effectively quadrupled East Timor’s share of oil and gas in the Timor Sea.  Galbraith is a principal of the Windham Resources Group LLC, a Townshend, Vermont-based firm that specializes in international negotiations for government and corporate clients. His most recent books are The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created a War Without End (2006) and Unintended Consequences: How War in Iraq Strengthened America’s Enemies (2008). 

[Investor's Iraq Forum - Iraq Dinar Forum, Iraq Investments, Iraq Stock Exchange, Iraq Bank, Iraq News, Iraqi Dinar] Incremental Steps in Iraq to Let Kurdistan Oil Flow - Investor's ...: Ahmed Mira, a Kurdish investigative reporter and lecturer at a university near Sulaimaniya, said there were serious rifts between Mr. Salih and his predecessor, Nechirvan Barzani, whose government signed most of the contracts and who remains an influential business figure.

[Ranj Alaaldin] Peter Galbraith statement on activities in Kurdistan « Ranj Alaaldin: In late 2003 and early 2004, I helped Kurdistan’s leaders draft a proposal for a self-governing Kurdistan that was submitted to the Coalition Provisional Authority on February 11, 2004, for inclusion in Iraq’s interim constitution. Under the proposal, Kurdistan had its own government and military, Kurdistan law prevailed over Iraqi law, and Kurdistan controlled its own natural resources, including oil.

[Iraq and Gulf Analysis] A Weak Attempt at Rebuttal: Galbraith (2009) Is Contradicted by ...: These proposals - which included the key distinction between existing and future oil fields that would later enable stronger regional influence over new oilfields in the 2005 constitution and which forms the basis for the current dispute between Baghdad and the Kurds over oil - were “accepted” by the Kurdish leadership, and then forwarded to the CPA, “as a submission by the Kurdistan National Assembly”! According to Galbraith, his own proposals became the Kurdish proposal in all its details save for one extremely minor “amendment”: “Kosrat Rasul”¦wanted to clarify that deployment of the Iraqi Kurdistan National Guard should not only be approved by the Kurdistan National Assembly, but should only occur a the request of the federal government in Baghdad”.

[TPMMuckraker] CREW Calls On State Dept. To Probe Galbraith Over Kurdish Oil ...: And echoing another one of your points, how did this particular bit of sleazy behavior suddenly start getting all this intensive press attention, out of all the usually ignored sleazy stuff that has been going on since the advent of our Great Adventures in IraqIstan? Payback perhaps, or just an effort to destroy Galbraith's credibility - with (apparently) an assist from his own shoddy behavior - and make him an example to other would-be whistle-blowers?

[Iraq and Gulf Analysis] Bremer Speaks on DNO and Galbraith « Iraq and Gulf Analysis: This characterisation of Galbraith by Bremer is perhaps not terribly surprising given the well-known personal enmity between the two men, and many observers will probably also want to emphasise the multiple ethical questions that pertain to the CPA itself under Bremer’s own leadership and indeed his whole program of using ethno-sectarian quotas as the key for shaping institutions of government in the “new Iraq”. As far as ethics are concerned, what is now happening in the US mainstream media is actually a lot more interesting than what Bremer thinks about Galbraith: An increasing number of leading intellectual forums in the US that used to support Galbraith - including the mighty New York Review of Books - are now following the lead of the NYT in issuing various forms of apologies to their readers for having given space in their columns for Galbraith without at the same time providing full disclosure of his business involvement in Iraq.

[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.

[Arab News Blog] Arab News Blog » Peter Galbraith, oil contracts, and Kurds: While he was advising the Kurds on the principles of federalism and trying to persuade an American Democratic audience about the virtues of partition as an alternative to the Bush administration policies in Iraq, Galbraith supposedly held a 5 per cent stake in an oil field whose profit potential was directly governed by the constitutional and US policy decisions Galbraith was seeking to influence (his suggestions also included the idea of a permanent US airbase in Kurdistan).Under any circumstances, this new development is likely to strengthen the tendency among Iraqis to be more critical about the details of the 2005 constitution and not least the historical context in which it was conceived - a criticism that even Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki articulated during the run-up to the last local elections. Seemingly, Maliki’s ideas of rectifying this towards greater centralism (i.e.

[Ezra Klein] Ezra Klein: The Way To Go in Iraq: Iraq is about the folly by the Brits post WWI and Bush/Cheney in 2003 in thinking that lines on a map define a nation. Once the scab of Sunni dictatorial rule over the Kurds and Shia was ripped from the wound of historic Shia/Sunni conflict, the bleeding was inevitable, and can't be papered over by power-sharing agreements among those who won't share power.

[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.

[Explananda] Explananda :: Galbraith: In the summer of 2005, he was also an adviser to the Kurdish regional government as Iraq wrote its Constitution ”” tough and sensitive talks not least because of issues like how Iraq would divide its vast oil wealth. Now Mr.

[Iraq and Gulf Analysis] New DNO Revelations: While He Was Influencing the Shape of the ...: It is widely known that the former US diplomat Peter Galbraith has been one of the most prominent figures in shaping the state structure of Iraq in the period after 2003, especially with his vocal advocacy of various forms of partition solutions for Iraq’s political problems that are reflected in his books and numerous articles in the New York Review of Books, especially in the period from 2004 to 2008. Until now, however, it has generally been assumed that Galbraith’s fervent pro-partition propaganda was rooted in an ideological belief in national self-determination and a principled view of radical federalism as the best option for Iraq’s Kurds.

[EUROPE TURKMEN FRIENDSHIPS] Reidar Visser: New DNO Revelations: While He was Influencing the ...: While he was advising the Kurds on the principles of federalism and trying to persuade an American Democratic audience about the virtues of partition as an alternative to the Bush administration policies in Iraq, Galbraith supposedly held a 5 per cent stake in an oil field whose profit potential was directly governed by the constitutional and US policy decisions Galbraith was seeking to influence (his suggestions also included the idea of a permanent US airbase in Kurdistan).Under any circumstances, this new development is likely to strengthen the tendency among Iraqis to be more critical about the details of the 2005 constitution and not least the historical context in which it was conceived - a criticism that even Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki articulated during the run-up to the last local elections. Seemingly, Maliki’s ideas of rectifying this towards greater centralism (i.e.

[Iraq and Gulf Analysis] Why Ad Hoc De-Baathification Will Derail the Process of ...: The other members are from the PUK, Daawa and yet another Sadrist who together form the majority (hence, the “Watani” alliance is stronger on the committee than Daawa as far as the Shiites are concerned). Additionally, there is a minority of two secularists on the committee, plus Rashid al-Azzawi who represents Tawafuq (and who on some issues may well find common ground with the Shiite Islamists rather than with the secularists).

[Informed Comment] Informed Comment: Should US Troops in Iraq be held Hostage to the ...: As Reidar Vissar points out in his blog, the conditions for Kurdish separatism were inserted into the Iraqi constitution by none other than Peter Galbraith in his role as U.S. diplomat. In his other role as a private investor, he extracted personal profit by investing in a company that signed a deal to extract 'Kurdish'

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