Peter Galbraith -- Rich, Dedicated, Sleeping Easy

2 years ago

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Woman Up Editor

Raised in a privileged household and educated at Harvard and Oxford, Peter Galbraith, son of legendary JFK-era economist John Kenneth Galbraith, has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to public service. He was for 14 years a senior staffer on the U.S. Senate's Foreign Relations Committee until Bill Clinton appointed him ambassador to Croatia in 1993.

More recently, until mid-September, he was a U.N. adviser on the Afghanistan elections, a job he lost for taking a principled stand over vote-counting fraud which, Galbraith suggested, the United Nations mission in Afghanistan was willing to "cover up."

The 58-year-old former diplomat has also acquired an impressive history in efforts to advocate for the nomadic Kurdish tribes dwelling in the northern Iraqi provinces. In the late 1980s, his work on the Senate committee helped uncover Saddam Hussein's gassing of the Kurds at Halabja, and, after the United States overthrew the dictator during George W. Bush's administration, Galbraith advised U.S. policymakers, including Joe Biden and John Kerry, recommending justice for the long-oppressed Kurdish provinces of Iraq. His efforts led to the establishment of a U.N.-controlled Kurdistan region ratified in the 2005 Iraqi Constitution, a document Galbraith helped to shape, and gave control over rich oil fields in their territory to the newly sovereign Kurdistan government.

Though he was not paid by the Kurds for his advocacy on their behalf, his intentions may not have been entirely altruistic. Galbraith had a business relationship with a Norwegian oil company that stood to gain a great deal when the fields opened. Galbraith clearly believes that in a balanced life, one is entitled to do well while doing good.

Current allegations and documents published by Norwegian newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv reveal that in the spring of 2004, in exchange for helping the company negotiate drilling leases in the region, the energy company, DNO, granted Galbraith a sizable stake in at least one of Kurdistan's oil fields, now worth millions of dollars.

When questioned by the New York Times (for whom he has written several op-ed columns on Iraq and Kurdistan) about the charges of conflicted interests, Galbraith admitted he helped "create the Kurdistan oil industry," providing "an economic base for the autonomy [of] its people." But he argued that since "I undertook business activities that were entirely consistent with my long-held policy views," to him there was "no conflict."

Perhaps not, but the unconflicted negotiator awkwardly neglected to disclose his business relationship with DNO to Biden or Kerry, the Iraqi parliament and, apparently, the New York Times.

Coincidentally, a delegation from Kurdistan Regional Government last week participated in a global forum against corruption. Although the members did not mention Galbraith or their lucrative oil strike, on Wednesday the KRG issued a statement, pledging to establish "codes of conduct for public officials," increase "transparency in government operations" and prevent "corruption in the private sector."

Filed Under: Iraq, Scandal, Woman Up

Tagged: Peter Galbraith, PeterGalbraith

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