A neoconservative architect of President Bush's Iraq occupation could be preparing to personally reap the spoils of war, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Documents suggest that Richard Perle, top aide to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, has been in talks with government officials and its Washington envoy, and Turkish AG Group International, over a plan to drill for oil near the Kurdish city of Erbil. Perle is also in talks with the oil-rich nation of Kazakhstan, whose ruler, Nursultan Nazarbayev, has been involved in a US oil bribery investigation.
The State Department recently said that it was investigating deals brokered between the Kurds and other American energy companies, such as Dallas-based Hunt Oil Company, "infuriating" the Iraqi government, which called such deals "illegal attempts" to circumvent Baghdad's authority as the Iraqi government works to pass a national oil law. Documents suggest, however, that the State Department did not object to such deals.
