WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force had some interest in early 2001 in Iraq's oil industry, including which foreign companies were pursuing business there, according to documents a watchdog group released Friday.
Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group, obtained task force-related Commerce Department papers including a detailed map of Iraq's oil fields, terminals and pipelines, as well as a list titled "Foreign Suitors of Iraqi Oilfield Contracts." The papers also included a map of oil fields and pipelines in Saudi Arabia and in the United Arab Emirates, plus a list of oil and gas development projects in those two countries.
The papers were dated early March 2001, about two months before the Cheney energy task force completed and announced its report on the administration's energy needs and future energy agenda. -- ASSOCIATED PRESS