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State Dept.: Allard aware in mid-2007 of policy on Iraqi oil contracts
According to correspondence from the U.S. State Department obtained by Political Notebook, the man Bob Schaffer is hoping to succeed, Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., was aware in mid-2007 of the government’s policy of discouraging oil deals akin to one Schaffer helped arrange with the Kurdistan Regional Government.
John Fleming, a spokesman for the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, said Allard’s office requested information “about oil company investments in Iraq” on May 1, 2007.
“He was referencing Aspect Energy,” Fleming said in an e-mail. “In the letter we stated that we discourage any deals with the Kurdistan Region until a national law is passed.”
According to the State Department’s May 25 reply to Allard’s request, Iraq’s federal government considered any oil contract negotiated with “regional authorities … illegal.”
The letter’s message is very similar to an October 2007 letter sent to Congressman Edward Markey, D-Mass., which can be seen here. Here are the relevant passages from the State Department’s letter to Allard:
(We have requested a copy of Allard’s May 1 letter. We’ll pass it along when it gets to us.)
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In related news, today’s Pueblo Chieftain has Schaffer himself defending his work in laying groundwork for an oil deal in 2006 between his then-employer Aspect Energy and the Kurdistan Regional Government.
From the article: “Schaffer has come under fire for his ties to the oil and gas industry, and recently his former employer, Aspect Energy, was criticized by the U.S. State Department for a deal with the Kurdistan regional government, bypassing the Iraqi government.
“He acknowledged that U.S. officials in Baghdad did not want U.S. oil companies doing business directly with the Kurds, but said that under the country’s new federal system, such a working relationship was allowed.”
*Allard photo from the Associated Press. Schaffer photo from The Rocky Mountain News.
Comments
By Gary
July 17, 2008 3:23 PM | Link to this
“Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”?
Is there a public record of how much Schaffer was paid to do these anti-American deeds?