Bush's Oil Buddies In Africa

Couldn't help noticing Bush's face on a 60 Minutes TV segment last night. The story was about Exxon's dodgy oil deals with Equatorial Guinea and Bush was doing the touch-feely thing with his old buddy, Ken Lay.

Oil reserves were discovered off the coast of Equatorial Guinea ten years ago. ExxonMobil struck the first production deal, offering the locals just 12% of revenues in return for drilling rights. The country was so desperately poor that they took the deal.

While President Obiang is now a welcome guest in Washington DC, where he owns three mansions, his people remain dirt poor. Obiang's family cartel controls the oil. Political opponents are jailed. The ruling family control what media exists. In fact, a radio announcer recently told listeners that their president is "none other than God. "

60 minutes say "federal investigators have reportedly been looking into American oil companies and their real estate dealings in Equatorial Guinea -- to determine whether they improperly benefitied President Obiang. Sources close to the investigation are examining whether the oil companies paid prices so far above market value that they violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act."