Iraq Envoy's Got Oil On His Resume

[struggle4progress]

<snip> What is a surprise, however, is that neither the Times, nor the Associated Press, nor the New York Sun mentioned Khalilzad's experience as a consultant to a major oil company.

The Times piece ran 592 words and referred to Khalilzad's high school basketball career and his graduate work at the University of Chicago. The Sun printed 770 words that detailed Khalilzad's most recent job as the envoy to Afghanistan and outlined the challenges he'll face in Iraq.

But neither paper mentioned Khalilzad's work for Unocal, which apparently included negotiating with the Taliban over a pipeline that the company wanted to build across Afghanistan in the 1990s. Agence France Presse mentioned the Unocal link in its 116-word brief on Khalilzad's nomination. <snip>

Of course, it is possible the reporters simply didn't know about the Unocal connection. While the link was mentioned in "Fahrenheit 9/11" and several articles about that movie, it is not noted in the State Department's official biography of the diplomat. But a State Department spokesman confirms Khalilzad did work for Unocal.

http://villagevoice.com/blogs/pressclipsextra/archives/2005/03/iraq_envoys_got.php