Ex-Pentagon Official Eying Iraq Oil Deal

Former Pentagon official Richard Perle is on board with a consortium seeking to drill for oil in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, the Wall Street Journal reports—though both Baghdad and Washington want a national oil law passed before regional business is done. The Iraq war backer denies that he’s involved with that outfit, said to include Turkish and Kazakh companies.

The Turkish consortium leader is connected to Perle via a Washington advocacy group, and a rep said of the deal, “Richard would know the most. He is involved, I know that.” A Kurdish official also confirmed Perle’s involvement in a deal for a tract that could hold 150 million barrels of oil.
(More Richard Perle stories.)