Daniel Rodrigue
Ray Hunt
The Dallas Morning News' A1 story concerning a Congressional committee's investigation into the Hunt Oil Company's controversial deal with the regional Kurdistan government is a fine summary of yesterday's revelations. But The New York Times had Jim Landers outnumbered five-to-one, and it shows in a detailed front-page piece that quotes liberally from e-mails between George W. Bush bud and backer Ray Hunt, State Department officials and others in the Bush administration concerning Hunt's decision to go into Kurdistan. The story also details how the State Department didn't warn Hunt that maybe he shouldn't do the deal -- which officials now claim they did. Two notable sections, among many:
A senior Hunt official said he was told by State Department officials during a meeting on June 15, 2007, that the United States government did not object to deals with the Kurdish regional government. ... In August 2007, Mr. Hunt informed State Department officials directly of his intentions in Kurdistan, and on Sept. 5, three days before the deal was signed, a flurry of e-mail messages among Hunt and State Department officials make clear that the department was aware of what was in the works.Of course, nothing will come of this. Not ever. Because, like The Dallas Morning News story says, " Administration officials have emphatically denied that oil was a motive for the war." And, besides, Ray Hunt is amazing and not at all "sinister." --Robert Wilonsky
