The former U.S. diplomat Peter Galbraith played a key role in drafting the Iraqi constitution of 2005, and which became a cause for controversy and disagreement immediately after it was ratified. Yet, that this later has happened was not surprising, since the articles of this constitution related to the investment of raw materials were intentionally drafted to contradict one another, in that the provinces were given certain jurisdictions at the expense of the federal government'. The resulting disputes have in fact cost Iraq billions of dollars, not to mention the delays in the projects, owing to the divergence between Baghdad and Erbil caused by the constitution. It is worth mentioning here that Galbraith had resigned from the U.S government in 2003, and then worked as an adviser to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The fact of the matter is that Galbraith took advantage of his advisory role, and played an important role in shaping the Iraqi constitution, and in adding-in ambiguities and contradictions to its provisions, as well as in reducing the role of the federal government in the oil industry, and preventing it from the oversight and supervision of the negotiations conducted between the regional governments and the international oil companies. As Galbraith has now been exposed, it has become clear that his enthusiasm for extreme federalism was aimed at providing him with a cover for entering as an undeclared partner in one of the oil companies that were at the time negotiating with the government in Erbil. Mr. Galbraith published many books and articles calling for the partitioning of Iraq, and even for “putting an end” to Iraq as a political entity. Among his most important works in this regard are “The End of Iraq”, published in 2006, in addition to his many proposals regarding the partitioning of Iraq into different parts; these proposals were published in the New York Review of Books between 2004 and 2008, and in which Galbraith presented multiple scenarios to modify the Iraqi political entity, and to undermine the unity of the country through his different models of partitioning or federalism. In any case, Galbraith succeeded in concealing information regarding his million-dollar investments in the Tawke oil field Production Sharing Agreement, signed between the KRG and DNO - a small Norwegian oil company. This continued to be the case until the leading Norwegian business newspaper “Dagens Næringsliv” exposed Galbraith's involvement, through a series of investigative reports focused on DNO's shareholders, after having obtained information about them directly from the Oslo Stock Exchange. In fact, the importance of what the Norwegian newspaper has published lies in the many questions these articles have added to the ones we already had regarding the lack of credibility in the slogans adopted by the Bush administration, in what concerns fairness and transparency in the Middle East (insofar as being its aims behind the occupation of Iraq). This is in addition to raising questions about the intentions and objectives of one of the most prominent advocates of ending the Iraqi state, and about how he, Galbraith, abused his political power and engaged in questionable practices to further his business interests. Dagens Næringsliv's reports also helped shed light on the role of American diplomats and individuals theorizing for the U.S occupation of Iraq, who exploited their political posts to have stakes in the Iraqi oil wealth. Moreover, the reports published in the Norwegian Newspaper revealed that a “third party”, who was not initially named, was between 2004 and 2008 a partner in the production sharing agreement of the Tawke oil field in northern Iraq, and which was signed between the Norwegian company and the KRG. It was also revealed that this third party was excluded from signing the new agreement in early 2008, and that a new partner, the Turkish company “Genel Enerji”, was given a stake in the agreement. This prompted the third party to sue DNO for 500 million dollars for the losses suffered it had suffered. It soon became evident that this third party was none other than Peter Galbraith. DNO then admitted that Galbraith, along with his Yemeni partner Shaher Abdulhak, were that third party, and that they had a 5 percent share in the Tawke oil field contract, through Porcupine, a company registered in the American state of Delaware in 2004. To validate this information, DNO then published several documents issues by Porcupine, and which bore the signature of Mr. Galbraith. Also, it should be mentioned here that Porcupine had entered in arbitration with DNO. Moreover, the Norwegian Economic Crime Division “Økokrim” is currently investigating DNO's transactions, which means that there is still more room to obtain more information before the end of the investigation. Meanwhile in Erbil, the “change” opposition bloc at the Kurdish Parliament called on Mr. Ashti Hawrami, the Minister of Natural Resources in the KRG, to appear before the parliament to respond to the charges made against him of involvement in a deal to sell 30 million dollar stocks to the Turkish company “Generl Enerji” It should be mentioned that DNO was founded in the early seventies. It has acquired oil field contracts in the North Sea, Mozambique, Yemen and Kurdistan (Iraq). Its current production is estimated to be at 20 thousand barrels a day, most of which is extracted from the Tawke field, and the rest from Yemen. Also, the reserves at the Tawke oil field are estimated to be about one to two billion barrels of crude oil. DNO holds a 55 percent stake in the Tawke field, which it also shares with the KRG, in addition to Porcupine (formerly), and “Genel Enerji” currently. *. Mr. Khadduri is an energy expert
