Rep. Ed Markey, Chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, has taken the initiative in getting to the bottom of the Hunt Oil-Iraqi Kurds deal signed last month.
On Tuesday, Markey sent a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice seeking answers to a number of important questions surrounding the deal. The full text can be found here.
Some of the questions posed by Markey:
- How long have you been aware of negotiations between Hunt and the Kurdish government?
- Did you inform the President that Hunt and the Kurdish government were negotiating a bilateral oil deal outside of the efforts of the Iraqi government to work out an oil-sharing agreement?
President Bush previously claimed not to have known about the agreement. A State Department spokesman later seemed to indicate Hunt may have been advised against the deal.
- Do you view the agreement as helpful to the Administration’s efforts to achieve reconciliation in Iraq? Please Explain.
- Do you agree with the Iraqi oil minister that the deal between Hunt oil and the Kurd government is illegal?
Hunt's agreement was seen as a significant contributor to the collapse a few days later of negotiations for national oil legislation.
- ...What mechanisms are in place to ensure that PFIAB [President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board] members do not use classified information for personal gain or that they do not bias their advice to the President on intelligence matters in light of their business interests?
Ray Hunt sits on the PFIAB, as well as Halliburton's board. He is a friend of the Bush family,a campaign fund raiser, and recently contributed thirty five million dollars to the George W. Bush presidential library at Southern Methodist University, reportedly enough to fund the entire picture book wing.
I'm glad to see Markey is taking the lead on this issue. Hopefully he will be more willing to demand answers than other members of congress have been in attempting to exercise oversight.