Bastards Inc.

May 26, 2006 -- On May 24, the National Security Council contravened US ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad and ruled out direct negotiations with Iran that were promised by Khalilzad after the appointment of a new Iraqi government. However, State Department sources report that there are direct negotiations taking place between Iran and the United States. However, the American side is not represented by the U.S. government but by Halliburton. The oil company, with long ties to Dick Cheney, is negotiating with Iran on potential contracts to refurbish Iran's aging oil production infrastructure. The saber-rattling from the Bush White House over Iran is either a smokescreen to draw attention away from U.S.-Iranian oil talks or represents a new fracture between the neocons in the Bush administration: the financially-motivated vs. the politically-motivated necons. This fissure may represent the first discernable break between Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.