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Can’t Be Surprised Anymore: Chevron Pays Fines in Iraqi Oil Scandal, Condi Rice Involved?
By Jason Pancake

The next time you go to the gas station to pay a ridiculous amount to fill your tank, here is something to think about.

This week it was reported that Chevron is preparing to acknowledge that it should have known kickbacks were being paid to Saddam Hussein on oil it bought from Iraq as part of a defunct United Nations program, according to investigators. In addition, Chevron is going to pay a settlement including fines estimated to total $25 million to $30 million. Of course, Chevron is claiming it was some kind of misunderstanding, but when you are paying millions of dollars in fines because your company paid kickbacks to Saddam Hussein, it means someone screwed up! By coincidence, or maybe not, one person under scrutiny is Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice.

In case you thought she appeared out of nowhere, the President’s loyal sidekick, Condi, was actually on the board of Chevron for ten years (1991-2001) which included the time period of this scandal. While Rice was on the Chevron board, she led its public policy committee, which oversaw “areas of potential political concerns for the company.” [Doing my best John Stewart voice and hand motion impression] “So Condi was in charge of potential political concerns at Chevron? Hmm, couldn’t PAYING EXTRA SURCHARGES FOR IRAQI OIL TO THE ONE AND ONLY, SADDAM HUSSEIN, be considered a “POTENTIAL POLITICAL CONCERN?” In 2001, Rice left Chevron to become national security advisor for W, and the rest is history. We got rid of Saddam Hussein and destroyed Iraq, and Chevron went on to post among the highest earnings for a company in the history of the world. As a parting gift, Chevron named a gigantic oil tanker after her: “The Condoleezza Rice.” I kid you not. Here’s a scary article dated April 5, 2001 which discusses Rice’s ties to Chevron and the article wonders if there might be a potential that the Bush Administration is a little too cozy with a major oil company. It is one of those moments you wish you had a time machine. Here’s a quote from the article that is just priceless: “while some have written off the [tanker] ‘Condoleezza Rice’ as a small and humorous footnote to the Bush administration, the danger exists that it could turn into more.”

Now let’s put this in perspective. Condoleezza Rice, was named National Security Advisor (and later Secretary of State) after she had spent the previous 10 years on the executive board of a major American oil company. Since the above 4/5/01 article was written, the following things have happened: 9-11, Bush Administration claims Saddam Hussein and Iraq have WMDs and were involved with 9-11, These claims questioned, Gas is up to $2.50/gallon, Invasion of Iraq begins, Mission Accomplished!, Still in Iraq, Saddam Hussein captured, Gas is above $3/gallon, Bush re-elected, Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” documentary highlights some scary things about pollution, Gas still above $3/gallon, Claims for going to war against Iraq and Saddam found to be untrue, Chevron and Exxon Mobil earn the greatest profit in the history of the world, Still in Iraq, Gas is up to $3.50/gallon.

While it wasn’t like Chevron secretly snuck suitcases of cash over to Saddam’s palace, here’s what happened: A $64 billion program was set up in 1996 to help ease the effects of United Nations sanctions on Iraqi civilians after the first Gulf war. Until the American invasion in 2003, the program allowed Saddam's government to export oil to pay for food, medicine and humanitarian goods. Using an elaborate system of secret surcharges and extra fees, however, the Iraqi regime received at least $1.8 billion in kickbacks from companies in the program, according to an investigation completed in 2005. One of these companies who got oil from Iraq and paid kickbacks was Chevron. While Chevron is not expected to admit to violating the United Nations sanctions, it is expected to acknowledge that it should have been aware that illegal kickbacks were being paid to Iraq on the oil. There are always shadowy questions. One Italian businessman testified that he sold Iraqi oil to many companies, including Chevron, and all were aware of the Iraqi request for payment of a surcharge. Chevron and the other companies would just add this surcharge amount into the official price.

Is it just a simple coincidence that Rice was on the Board of Chevron during these unnoticed overpayments? Probably. But, hmm, is there a pattern throughout her career of warnings and hints being missed that something is going on? Of things not being done? Haven’t oil companies benefited enormously from this administration? It’s too bad the mainstream media and people of power just don’t ask enough tough questions about things like this. As a result, we may never know.

Here’s another article about this topic .