Ever wonder why you never hear about Texas Democratic oilmen? Well, they exist, but they always get the raw end of the deal with the Bush family. While I have my own reasons for liking the Hunt family, evil empire aside, but I am more amazed that no one ever says anything about the way people like Oscar Wyatt are treated.
Wyatt is a also a self-made oil tycoon, but he has two strikes against him: he is a Democrat, and he is anti-war. So now that you have all ready about Mr. Hunt is being treated by the Bush Administration, let's see how the cards fall for Oscar.
Texas oilman accused of paying Iraq kickbacks
http://abc.net.au/...
(especially funny that this is only being talked about in Australia! On September 11 no less!)
Wyatt, an 83-year-old self-made oil tycoon, faces five counts in Manhattan federal court including engaging in prohibited financial transactions with Iraq, deals alleged to have violated the UN oil-for-food program designed to provide humanitarian assistance to Iraq while it was under international sanctions.
The oilman, known for his unfettered opinions and flamboyant style, faces a maximum of 74 years in prison if convicted of all charges.
After getting his start selling oil drill bits out of the trunk of his car, he founded the Coastal Corp. that was sold to El Paso Corporation for $US17 billion in stock in 2000 and 2001.
Defence lawyer Gerald Shargel argued the federal case against Wyatt was "entwined" with his opposition to both US-led wars against Iraq.
Wyatt flew to Iraq with former Texas governor John Connally in December 1990 in a bid to free US citizens held in Baghdad just before the US operation to dislodge Iraqi forces that had invaded Kuwait earlier that year.
They brought back some two dozen oil workers to Texas.
Ah yes, the Ross Perot worker rescue adventure! While Bush slips in and out of Iraq in the cover of darkness, Wyatt and Connally walked into the lion's den to secure the freedom of two dozen fellow Americans.
Mr Shargel told the jury that tapes of Saddam speaking would be played during the trial. Saddam was hanged to death in December following his trial in Iraq for crimes against humanity.
Mr Shargel will set out to prove Wyatt was a patriotic American whose advice was sought by nearly every US president from John F. Kennedy to Bill Clinton, but not the Bushes.
This is true, from JFK to the Big Dog, from Ronnie to Tricky Dick, Wyatt always had a seat at the table in the Oval Office. He was a man of the people who was one of our best horse traders outside of LBJ. And unlike the countless other Texas oilmen with notoriously reactionary ideals, Wyatt was looking out for America's best interests, all though he did pocket some change on the way.
Even Ronald Reagan loved this guy, but there was one political family who were not fans, the Bush dynasty.
Wyatt, a Democrat, was a "friend and confidant" of Republican presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, but "he was no friend or admirer of the other two presidents," George HW Bush and his son George W Bush, Mr Shargel said.
"Mr Wyatt pleaded with the advisers of George HW Bush not to go to war and to resolve this peacefully," Mr Shargel said.
"There were (peace) talks and negotiations under way that Oscar Wyatt was involved in."
So the moral of the story is:
If you cuddle the Bush family and let them have their wars, you get all the oil you want.
If you defy the Bush family and plead for peace, you get to go to jail.
God Bless Texas.