“In a June 30 [2003] follow-up piece, the [New York] Times’ [Andrew] Kramer cited U.S. officials (again unnamed) as acknowledging the following: ‘A group of American advisers led by a small State Department team played an integral part in drawing up contracts between the Iraqi government and five major Western oil companies…’ [This] ‘disclosure… is the first confirmation of direct involvement by the Bush administration in deals to open Iraq’s oil to commercial development and is likely to stoke criticism.’ ”
– Nick Turse, “The Iraqi Oil Ministry’s New Fave Five,” The Nation, July 7, 2008