"Last fall, after the deal was announced, the State Department said that it had tried to dissuade Hunt Oil from signing the contract with Kurdish regional authorities but that the company had proceeded "regardless of our advice." Although Hunt Oil's chief executive has been a major fundraiser for President Bush, the president said he knew nothing about the deal.

"Yesterday, however, Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, released documents and e-mails showing that for nearly four months, State and Commerce department officials knew about Hunt Oil's negotiations and had told company officials that there were no objections. In one note, a Commerce Department official even wished them 'a fruitful visit to Kurdistan' and invited them to contact him 'in case you need any support.'

"That guidance contradicted the administration's public posture..."

This is a euphemism for Bush and his politicized State and Commerce Department Bushite loyalists lying.

"But in a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Waxman said documents his committee had obtained "tell a different story about the role of Administration officials."

The documents show that as early as June 12, 2007, Hunt Oil officials met with members of the State Department's Regional Reconstruction Team for the Kurdistan region in Erbil and on June 15 specifically asked whether there was a policy about companies entering contracts with Kurdish authorities. According to notes taken by Hunt Oil officials, they were told that the 'U.S. has no policy, for nor against.'

"The State Department officials in Erbil sent summaries of Hunt Oil activities to the embassy in Baghdad and to Laird Treiber, the economic coordinator in the State Department's office of Iraq affairs in Washington. 

"It did make big news, and Bush himself was asked about it. On Sept. 20, he said, 'Our embassy also expressed concern about it. I knew nothing about the deal.'  He continued, ' I need to know exactly how it happened. To the extent that it does undermine the ability for the government to come up with a oil revenue-sharing plan that unifies the country, obviously I'm -- if it undermines that, I'm concerned.'

"Later, at a State Department briefing, Casey said, 'We certainly are discouraging individuals and companies, as well as the government of Kurdistan, the regional government of the Kurdish region, to engage in these kinds of contracts.'Referring specifically to Hunt Oil, he added that the "company decided to sign a contract regardless of our advice, but that is their decision."

ThinkProgress fleshes out the Bush/Hunt connection:  "Hunt Oil is owned by Ray L. Hunt, a former Halliburton board member who has donated $35 million to the Bush presidential library.

"This isn’t the first time the Bush administration has helped out the billionaire Hunt. In 2006, a proposed border fence in Texas “abruptly ended” right before Hunt’s property."

Applying the old saying, "If I'm lying, I'm dying," this entire criminal, prevaricating administration would have bitten the dust long ago.