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Bill Moyers on Energy Secrets

Before we take our leave tonight, we have a new development on a story we've been following for quite a while.

Last week, Larry Klayman was here to talk about efforts by his public interest group, Judicial Watch, to gain access to the records of those secret meetings back in 2001 when Vice President Cheney asked executives from big energy companies to help him write the administration's energy plan.

KLAYMAN: There's something there that's being hidden. Were there energy executives behind closed doors offering up contributions for special deals?

Judicial Watch is a conservative organization that investigates and prosecutes government corruption and abuse, and two years ago, Klayman filed a Freedom of Information request to find out who came to the Vice President's meetings and what advice they gave. When the administration failed to comply, Klayman went to court.

Well, this week, in response to that lawsuit the government had to release several energy task force documents.

Now, keep in mind, these date back to the spring of 2001, some six months before 9/11, two years before the war with Iraq. Among them are a map of Iraq's oil fields and pipelines, and lists of foreign companies — the documents call them "suitors" — interested in developing Iraq's oil industry. These documents raise more questions than they answer, they don't tell us, for example, why the Vice President and private energy executives would be so curious at that time about those Iraqi oil fields, and why they would fight so hard in the meantime to keep their curiosity secret.

Larry Klayman told us today he is determined to find out why. What he finds, we'll report. You can link to more information via our Web site at pbs.org. That's all for NOW, thanks for watching, I'm Bill Moyers.