Nothing But Politics

[CoalTrain]

What makes these contracts a "bribe"? It was common knowledge that prior to the invasion that Saddam was having a fire sale on oil. A fair sized article in the economist covered the issue. Others covered the subject as well. The article covered the obvious politics of creating confusion in a post invasion Iraq. Unless this is some other set of contracts I fail to see how it is a "bribe".

Do you know how significant these contracts are to Russia`s economy? Right after the invasion I spoke to some people who just got back from Moscow and they said the government was making a lot of noise about America stealing Russian oil in Iraq and that this was a threat to the Russians.

CT