U.S. adviser to Kurds criticized

OSLO, Norway, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- A former Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations expressed shock that a U.S. consultant to the Kurds may earn more than $100 million from an Iraqi oil deal.

Peter Galbraith, a former U.S. ambassador to Croatia, who advocated on behalf of Kurds in northern Iraq during the country's constitutional negotiations in 2005, had previously, in 2004, signed a deal with a Norwegian oil company, DNO, that gave him rights to a small portion of income from new oil discoveries in Kurdistan, The New York Times reported Thursday.

The discovery of the Tawke oil field in December 2005 could enrich Galbraith, son of renowned economist John Kenneth Galbraith, by more than $100 million, the Times said.

Former U.N. ambassador Feisal Amin al-Istrabadi said he was "speechless," that "an oil company was participating in the drafting of the Iraqi Constitution."

Similarly, Abdul-Hadi al-Hassani, vice chairman of the oil and gas committee in the Iraqi Parliament, said the "interference was not justified, illegal and not right."

Galbraith said he was acting as a private citizen.

"I believe my work with DNO helped create the Kurdistan oil industry which helps provide Kurdistan an economic base for the autonomy its people almost unanimously desire," he said.