"We have never hidden our desire for Polish oil companies" to have access to Iraqi oil fields, said Cimoszewicz

WARSAW, July 4 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Poland, which is to lead the so-called Iraq stabilization force, is now demanding its war allies for a slice of the Iraqi cake.

Poland wants access to Iraqi oil fields, Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz said Thursday, July 3, following the signing of a U.S.-Polish business agreement on Iraqi reconstruction.

"We have never hidden our desire for Polish oil companies to finally have access to sources of commodities," the minister told the PAP agency following the inking of a cooperation agreement between U.S. company Kellog Brown and Root (KBR) and Polish company Nafta Polska.

Access to the oil fields "is our ultimate objective", Cimoszewicz admitted.

KBR is a subsidiary of Halliburton, the oil firm previously headed by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, which has been criticized for the way it obtained reconstruction contracts in Iraq.

Some contracts, potentially worth several billion dollars (euros), were awarded to Halliburton with all other companies excluded from bidding.

Nafta Polska is a state-owned company representing the interests of Polish oil and gas companies seeking potentially lucrative Iraq reconstruction contracts.

The company also runs Poland's second largest oil refinery, Rafinieria Gdanska.

Thursday's agreement between KBR and Nafta Polska simply provides for "cooperation on Iraqi reconstruction", according to a statement.

"Analysis carried out by KBR concludes that there is room for Polish companies (in reconstruction projects)," Nafta Polska director Adam Sek told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

More than 500 Polish businesses have officially put themselves forward for involvement in Iraqi reconstruction, although exclusively as subcontractors for U.S. firms.

Poland firmly supported the United States during the Iraq war and contributed a parachute unit during the combat.

Polish troops will also soon be in command of one of Iraq's four postwar administrative zones and a division of some 9,200 soldiers.

American firms were given the lion’s share of juicy contracts for the reconstruction of post-war Iraq.

The U.S. Army had awarded a subsidiary of Halliburton encompasses the operation of Iraqi oil fields.

The Bush administration also granted a 680 million dollars contract to Bechtel Group, one of the largest, most politically connected construction and engineering American firms.

Fearful the Americans would swallow the entire Iraqi bonanza, more than 80 British companies were rallying the government of Tony Blair, America's all-time war alley, to ensure that non-U.S. contractors win a share of the $1.9bn (£1.2bn) earmarked for rebuilding Iraq.