Group: Cheney Task Force Eyed on Iraq Oil

By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press, 7/18/03

WASHINGTON (AP)- Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force 
appeared to have some interest in early 2001 in Iraq's oil 
industry, including which foreign companies were pursuing 
business there, according to documents released Friday by a 
private watchdog group.

Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group, obtained a batch of 
task force-related Commerce Department papers that included a 
detailed map of Iraq's oil fields, terminals and pipelines as 
well as a list entitled ``Foreign Suitors of Iraqi Oilfield 
Contracts.''

The papers also included a detailed map of oil fields and 
pipelines in Saudi Arabia and in the United Arab Emirates and a 
list of oil and gas development projects in those two countries.

The papers were dated early March 2001, about two months before 
the Cheney energy task force completed and announced its report 
on the administration's energy needs and future energy agenda.

Judicial Watch obtained the papers as part of a lawsuit by it and 
the Sierra Club to open to the public information used by the 
task force in developing President Bush's energy plan.

Tom Fitton, the group's president, said he had no way to guess 
what interest the task force had in the information, but ``it 
shows why it is important that we learn what was going on in the 
task force.''

``Opponents of the war are going to point to the documents as 
evidence that oil was on the minds of the Bush administration in 
the run-up to the war in Iraq,'' said Fitton. ``Supporters will 
say they were only evaluating oil reserves in the Mideast, and 
the likelihood of future oil production.''

The task force report was released in May 2001. In it, a chapter 
titled ``Strengthening Global Alliances'' calls the Middle East 
``central to world oil security'' and urges support for 
initiatives by the region's oil producers to open their energy 
sectors to foreign investment. The chapter does not mention Iraq, 
which has the world's second largest oil reserves after Saudi 
Arabia.

Commerce Department spokesman Trevor Francis said: ``It is the 
responsibility of the Commerce Department to serve as a 
commercial liaison for U.S. companies doing business around the 
world, including those that develop and utilize energy resources. 
The Energy Task Force evaluated regions of the world that are 
vital to global energy supply. The final report, released in May 
of 2001, contains maps of key energy-producing regions in the 
world, including Russia, North America, the Middle East and the 
Caspian region.''

A spokeswoman for the vice president did not immediately return a 
phone call seeking comment Friday.

A two-page document obtained with the map and released by 
Judicial Watch lists, as of March 2001, companies in 30 countries 
that had an interest in contracts to help then-President Saddam 
Hussein develop Iraq's oil wealth.

The involvement of Russia and France has been documented. Also on 
the list were companies from Canada, Australia, China, Germany, 
Indonesia, Ireland, India and Mexico. Even Vietnam had interest 
in a service contract and, according to the paper, was close to 
signing an agreement in October 1999.

So far nearly 40,000 pages of internal documents from various 
departments and agencies have been made public related to the 
Cheney task force's work under the Judicial Watch-Sierra Club 
lawsuit. The task force itself has refused to turn over any of 
its own papers.

On the Net:

Judicial Watch and view of documents: 
http://www.JudicialWatch.org    


   
07/18/03 22:10 EDT
    

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