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The New York Times reported Monday despite past assurances from the Bush administration Iraq would be free as a sovereign nation to make its own decisions about its vast oil reserves, a group of U.S. State Department advisers played a integral part in a move by Iraq to award no-bid oil infrastructure contracts to Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP, Total and Chevron.

It said while it is unclear how much influence it had, unnamed sources said the group of advisers to Iraq's Oil Ministry provided template contracts and detailed suggestions on drafting the contracts. The seemingly direct participation of U.S. officials in an oil decision angered war critics who maintain oil was a prime motivation for the 2003 invasion.

"We pretend (oil) is not a centerpiece of our motivation, yet we keep confirming that it is", Frederick Barton, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, told the Times. "And we undermine our own veracity by citing issues like sovereignty, when we have our hands right in the middle of it."

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