Pair rip Schaffer's Iraq oil deal

Campaign manager dismisses them as 'hit men'

By Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Originally published 05:10 p.m., July 11, 2008
Updated 06:39 p.m., July 11, 2008

Two foreign policy advisers ripped GOP Senate candidate Bob Schaffer Friday, saying an oil deal his company negotiated in a region of Iraq jeopardized the safety of American troops.

The pair — dismissed by the GOP as liberal hit men — also said the contract violated U.S. policy against cutting deals with the Kurdistan Regional Government, and Schaffer should have known that because of his experience in Congress.

Schaffer researched the country and political situation when he visited in 2006 while working as a senior vice president for Denver-based Aspect Energy. The oil deal was reached the following year.

"I think there is a serious question about who Bob Schaffer is," said Rand Beers, former senior member of National Security Council staff who worked for every president since Ronald Reagan.

Beers and Larry Korb, former assistant secretary of defense under Reagan, criticized Schaffer and Aspect Energy during a conference call arranged by Schaffer's Democratic opponent, Mark Udall.

Schaffer's campaign manager, Dick Wadhams, pointed out that Beers is advising Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's campaign, and Kolb has been critical of Gen. David Petraeus, who oversees the Iraqi effort.

"Beers worked on John Kerry's campaign. What does that tell you? They masquerade as nonpartisan, objective foreign policy experts but they are hit men paid by the left," he said. "These two creeps have no credibility."

Beers and Korb both said they were not getting paid for their remarks.

Taylor West, Udall's campaign spokeswoman, said the oil contract is a legitimate campaign issue for Schaffer.

"As a congressman, he voted for this war," she said. "As a candidate, he says we can't bring our troops home until our mission is complete. And now he's engaging in these business activities that made it harder for troops to accomplish that mission."

A June report from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office said deals cut with the Kurdish government have been a significant source of conflict in the efforts to stabilize Iraq. President Bush also has been critical.

But both Wadhams and Alex Cranberg, chairman of Aspect, disagree that the State Department had a clear policy against such contracts. Cranberg said his company received government approval to visit the region.

"We were not asked by the State Department not to do this deal," he said in an e-mail.

Cranberg took issue with Democrats painting the contract as "Bob's oil deal," saying Schaffer took a single research trip "to help us understand the conditions and risks of investing in Iraq" long before the deal was engineered by himself and two other company officials.

"I guess Beers and Korb want only Indian, Norwegian, Chinese, Austrian, Turkish, Kuwaiti and Hungarian companies to drill for oil in Kurdistan," Cranberg wrote.

"It is in the U.S. interests to increase oil production from all of Iraq to provide the world's economy some crucial relief from high oil prices, and to help finance Iraqi reconstruction so that it doesn't fall on the backs of the U.S. taxpayer.

"It is about time that we sent investment dollars to Iraq, and not just bullets."

Schaffer resigned from Aspect in January to run for office full time. The Fort Collins resident served three terms in Congress before stepping down in 2002. Udall, of Eldorado Springs, is serving his fifth term in Congress.

They are vying to succceed U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Loveland, who is retiring this year after 18 years in Washington.

• July 11, 2008

  5:41 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  HolierThanThou writes:

  Here's more information:

  http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.a...

  Naturally they want our troops to protect their investment. This deal is a disincentive to unification of the Iraqis making it impossible to extract concessions from the Kurdish part of the country that would pacify the Sunnis. Why share those oil profits with Sunnis when Alan Cranston and Bob Schaffer want their own big billion dollar piece. Our soldiers get to extend their tours of duty to keep Mr. Cranston and Bob Shaffer swimming in the big ocean of bloody oil dollars.

• July 11, 2008

  6:08 p.m.

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  HolierThanThou writes:

  I agree with Tommy now. As long as you and your buds are happy to get maimed and killed to make Bob Schaffer rich then go get'em, tiger!

  Now my only problem with the whole mess is that you're enriching Bob Schaffer at taxpayers' expense. I believe that private enterprise needs to pay its own way. If oil companies wanted Iraq all along then they should foot the bill for your combat pay, your equipment, your medical bills, and everything else related to this mercenary business.

  Who has been signing your paycheck? Was it Aspect Energy, LLC?

• July 11, 2008

  6:11 p.m.

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  JohnSmith2 writes:

  Tommy,

  Bob Schaffer did not do business with the Iraqi government, and that is exactly the point. He did it with one of the three warring factions, pitting the Kurds against the Sunni and the Shia. That is going to get troops killed.

• July 11, 2008

  6:18 p.m.

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  BurgandyWine writes:

  "We were not asked by the State Department not to do this deal"

  That is seriously his excuse for going to Iraq and destabilizing the country?

  It is also very telling that neither Alex Cranberg nor Bob Schaffer (R-Aspect Energy) make any attempt to dispute that this deal is detrimental to the efforts by our troops to stabilize the country.

  Sure Bob, lets stay in Iraq for 100 years to protect your investment in Kurdistan..

  Disgusting.

• July 11, 2008

  6:49 p.m.

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  ecoscience writes:

  No, No , NO!

  These deals did not destabilize Iraq. They provided much-needed business to one of the ethnic groups, in fact the one that got their act together the soonest after the invasion. In fact, it provided a lot of incentive for the other two factions to stop fighting and figure out how to get some business for themselves.

  It has no effect on the safety of our troops.

  But you have to admit, those billionaire Democrats are running a perfect campaign against Schaffer.

• July 11, 2008

  6:54 p.m.

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  Dustoff76 writes:

  Tommy,
  Just out of curiosity, what did you do in country? I was there as a medevac pilot from 05-06, and I have a different opinion of the issue. I'm not excited about electing a guy to congress who has a financial interest in extending the conflict. I wouldn't vote for a KBR board member for the same reason. I understand where Tommy's coming from, but I think there's a difference between supporting American companies and electing a profiteer to office.
  As for the rebuttal from the Schaffer campaign, they failed to note that Rand Beers served on the National Security Council under presidents Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and W. Bush. He did work on the Kerry campaign after resigning from the NSC five days before the war began, but that's hardly a reason to dismiss his concerns. I've met Mr. Beers a couple of times, and I think you'd have a hard time finding anyone who is more dedicated to establishing responsible foreign policy that defends our assets and our citizens. I wasn't a Schaffer supporter before, and this only adds to my previously held beliefs.

• July 11, 2008

  7:41 p.m.

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  fortcollinsreader writes:

  Kurdish Iraq certainly deserves the business after what they have been through. Remember the first Gulf War, when they were asked by the U.S. to put up their arms and fight against Hussein, only to be abandoned to the mountains of Northern Iraq, chased down by Hussein's henchmen, dying by the tens of thousands. Really a horrific time, many children and women dying on those mountains, in the freezing cold. So if Aspect Energy is exploring for oil, and the profits are being shared with the Kurds of the north, what a great time it is for a long forsaken people. They have completely rebuilt from scratch the northern Iraq cities, building hospitals, schools, businesses. It really is thriving under their newfound freedom. So please, before you criticize an American company for doing legitimate business with the Kurds, check your history book a little closer and have a dose of compassion.

• July 11, 2008

  7:59 p.m.

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  JohnSmith2 writes:

  Nevertheless, the policy of the Unites States and the international community is that Iraq is to end up a unified nation, not split along ethnic lines. It has also been the policy of the Bush administration that Iraq would pay for its own reconstruction costs and security with Iraqi oil. That is not going to happen if Iraqi oil is sold out from underneath the Iraqi government.

  There is also a strong Kurdish separatist movement that will use these illegal oil contracts as leverage to secede from Iraq. That is counter to United States policy and will also likely draw the Turks and the Iranians into the conflict if it were to occur.

  There are other ways to reward the Kurds than encouraging them to steal oil from the Iraqi government.

• July 11, 2008

  11:25 p.m.

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  HolierThanThou writes:

  History note: Kurdistan was made a de facto autonomous region after the first Persian Gulf war by including it in the no-fly zone. When Bush invaded Iraq, a small fraction of our forces moved into Kurdistan against no appreciable resistance.

  Since the 1980s, Kurdish rebels in Turkey have caused over 30,000 fatalities with their attempt to carve out an autonomous region in that country. Turkey, a NATO ally of ours, is now running extensive raids into Kurdistan because Kurdish rebels are staging bombings and assassinations in Turkey from Kurdish territory in northern Iraq.

  Enabling the Kurds to become rich and dangerous at the expense of their neighbors is likely to spread the bloodletting in Iraq into a regional conflagration of terrorism and guerrilla warfare. Civil order must be established first using careful and intelligent diplomacy. Otherwise, all those doing business in the region are only enriching mobsters, warlords, and terrorists.

  I invite anyone who calls the Kurdish powder keg stable and who thinks feeding that beast is a good idea to sit on a real powder keg and enjoy a fine Cuban cigar.

• July 12, 2008

  4:34 p.m.

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  sawzallartist writes:

  privatize profit

  socialize losses

  your free market at work