Zalmay Khalilzad, former U.S. ambassador to Iraq, was present at the inauguration of a recent Iraqi Kurdish oil project, according to the Kurdistan Regional Government’s website.

So, former U.S. government officials who didn’t wait long to be involved in Iraqi Kurdish oil, be it directly or as brokers for other companies, appears to include Robert Blackwill, Dick Naab, Harry Schute, Jay Garner, and now Zalmay Khalilzad. Peter Galbraith as well, while not in the government, appears to have conflated his advocacy for Kurdish separatism with investment in Kurdish oil. In all cases, it might be legal, but the optics certainly are not good.