Former Bush advisor mulls Iraq oil business: report

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) — A former Pentagon advisor who was an early advocate of invading Iraq has been looking into entering the potentially lucrative oil business there, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

Citing documents outlining a possible deal and people close to the negotiations, the Journal said Richard Perle has been looking into drilling in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, near the city of Erbil.

A consortium led by Turkish AK Group International is working out a deal to drill there and a US representative for the company's chief executive told the paper that Perle is involved.

In an e-mail to the daily, however, Perle said he was "not involved in any consortium" involving the two Kazakh men the paper said he was working with on the deal.

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