By JAMES GLANZ and RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.
Published: July 3, 2008

Bush administration officials knew that a Texas oil company with close
ties to President Bush was planning to sign an oil deal with the
regional Kurdistan government that ran counter to American policy and
undercut Iraq's central government, a Congressional committee has
concluded.

The conclusions were based on e-mail messages and other documents that
the committee released Wednesday.

United States policy is to warn companies that they incur risks in
signing contracts until Iraq passes an oil law and to strengthen Iraq's
central government. The Kurdistan deal, by ceding responsibility for
writing contracts directly to a regional government, infuriated Iraqi
officials. But State Department officials did nothing to discourage the
deal and in some cases appeared to welcome it, the documents show.