"Over 1,000 documents were obtained under Freedom of Information over five years by the oil campaigner Greg Muttitt. They reveal that at least five meetings were held between civil servants, ministers and BP and Shell in late 2002."

and

"Plans to exploit Iraq's oil reserves were discussed by government ministers and the world's largest oil companies the year before Britain took a leading role in invading Iraq, government documents show.

Five months before the March 2003 invasion, Baroness Symons, then the Trade Minister, told BP that the Government believed British energy firms should be given a share of Iraq's enormous oil and gas reserves as a reward for Tony Blair's military commitment to US plans for regime change.

The papers show that Lady Symons agreed to lobby the Bush administration on BP's behalf because the oil giant feared it was being "locked out" of deals that Washington was quietly striking with US, French and Russian governments and their energy firms.

Minutes of a meeting with BP, Shell and BG (formerly British Gas) on 31 October 2002 read: "Baroness Symons agreed that it would be difficult to justify British companies losing out in Iraq in that way if the UK had itself been a conspicuous supporter of the US government throughout the crisis."

Ah; now wouldn't it be nice if the Transparency-Advocate, President Obama would now release the requested-under-FOIA documents concerning Dick Cheney's Secret Energy Task Force?  Of course, that would be Looking Backward, Not Forward!  And good gracious, it might destabilize the Nation a little bit, and make citizens just a teensy bit cynical about our foreign policy and military adventures...

Surely the White House stenographers press corps will be almost rioting in their zeal to ask Jay Carney about Obama changing his mind and granting the FOIA requests.