Four Democratic senators, including Sen. Carl Levin, on Wednesday called on the State Department's inspector general to investigate whether agency employees encouraged lucrative oil deals between Iraq and several Western companies.
Any behind-the-scenes meddling would have violated administration policy, which was to discourage the business dealings until Baghdad passed a law that would fairly divide the nation's oil resources among the various provinces. The hydrocarbon law is widely seen as necessary to prevent sectarian tensions once Iraq boosts its oil production.
We are concerned that U.S. policy regarding these oil contracts has not been clearly defined, communicated, or consistently implemented by the Iraqi government, the Kurdistan Regional Government and international oil companies seeking to do business in Iraq, the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Harold Geisel, the State Department's acting inspector general.
The letter was signed by Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, as well as Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York, John Kerry of Massachusetts and Claire McCaskill of Missouri.
Last week, Levin asked Stephen Hadley, the president's national security adviser, to respond to press reports that State Department employees had advised Iraq on no-bid technical contracts.
His request followed one by Schumer, Kerry and McCaskill that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice try to block any deals between Iraq and the oil companies, including U.S-based Exxon Mobil.
The administration says its policy has been to discourage the deals, but suggests it has no plans to interfere.
The United States government has stayed absolutely out of the matter of the awarding of Iraqi oil contracts, Rice said in June. It's a private sector matter.
But according to a recent investigation by the House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee, the administration's policy was not expressed to at least one U.S. company. And in some cases, State Department and other administration officials even encouraged an exploration deal between Texas-based Hunt Oil Co. and Iraq's Kurdish government, according to e-mails released by the panel.
