Hot Rice and Oil

The Carpetbagger Report » Blog Archive » A side of Rice in the oil-for-food scandal?: "As part of the deal under negotiation, Chevron probably won’t admit that it was violating U.N. sanctions, but would instead acknowledge that the company should have been aware of the illegal kickbacks to Saddam.

If only Chevron had some kind of internal policy committee, as part of the company’s board of directors, with a knowledgeable expert responsible for looking out for these kinds of problems. Oh wait, it did — and it was led by Condoleezza Rice.

According to the Volcker report, surcharges on Iraqi oil exports were introduced in August 2000 by the Iraqi state oil company, the State Oil Marketing Organization. At the time, Condoleezza Rice, now secretary of state, was a member of Chevron’s board and led its public policy committee, which oversaw areas of potential political concerns for the company.

Ms. Rice resigned from Chevron’s board on Jan. 16, 2001, after being named national security advisor by President Bush.

Sean McCormack, a State Department spokesman, referred inquires to Chevron.

Hmm. Rice wasn’t just on Chevron’s board when the company was paying kickbacks to Saddam Hussein, she was in charge of the company’s policy committee, which existed to look for potential political problems..."