Say Anything Blog

Sweet!

Barack Obama: All hat and no cattle since 1997!

Schaffer’s Kurdish oil deal causes problems for Iraq

An oil contract Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer helped negotiate in Iraqi Kurdistan is one of several production deals the U.S. State Department has flagged as problematic for Iraq and its attempts to establish a national oil policy.

The oil contract, finalized in November 2007, allows a subsidiary of Schaffer’s former employer, Denver-based Aspect Energy, to produce oil on a nearly 104-square-mile plot in the Dohuk Governate in northern Iraq.

Schaffer confirmed Wednesday he was one of several Aspect Energy executives who visited Kurdistan in November 2006 and laid the groundwork for the company’s oil deal with the Kurds.

...Documents the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released earlier this month show the U.S. government’s policy on discouraging regional oil deals predated the finalization of Aspect Energy’s contract with the Kurds.

...“It’s troubling that oil and gas executive Bob Schaffer would strike a deal in the region that risked bringing more instability to Iraq while American troops are in harm’s way,” she said.

Excuse me, you were saying?

7/9/08: 

Schaffer said he was unaware the State Department had warned energy firms not to strike oil deals with the Kurdistan Regional Government at the time of his visit.

7/17/08:

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.

Excuse me, you were saying?

Rbb,

Your comments have nothing to do with this post.  His opponent is still stinging from the truth of this clip.

Just a note. 
The audio goes silent on my iphone youtube player right before the zinger… on 3 separate clips!  The same clips work fine on my pc.  Sounds intentional to me.