I think I remember hearing of this case a couple years ago, when the principals were indicted. To the extent I paid attention, I was less surprised that profiteering and bribery were involved in the food-for-oil program the US engineered after the first war against Iraq than I was that someone had actually been caught and indicted. War is good for business, and the US is currently set up to do very little else efficiently and effectively.

Which means Oscar Wyatt is probably in even deeper doo-doo than would be the case had he only bribed Saddam to get oil. He did that, of course, but here’s what looks worse: in his upcoming trial, due to start Sept. 5,

His attorneys are asking a federal judge in New York to prohibit prosecutors from presenting as evidence handwritten notes purportedly made by an Iraqi oil official, which suggest Wyatt conveyed information about when the United States might begin bombing, when ground forces would be sent in and how many soldiers would be deployed.

“Oscar Wyatt never passed secret information on to the Iraqis,” Wyatt attorney Gerald Shargel said in an interview Tuesday.

It’s gotta be a bit disheartening when your lawyer’s first statement is denying treason. But what information did Wyatt actually pass on?

The biggest problem seems to be in the diary of Mubdir Al-Khudhair, a former official with Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization. Therein lies an entry that is dated January 27, 2003. But the notes in question appear to be scribbled on a page dated Tuesday, August 13. No year is given, but August 13 was a Tuesday in 2002. Thus there’s some question about when the conversation covered by the diary entry took place.

That document, mostly in Arabic, recounts a purported communication between Al-Khudhair and one “Oscar Wayatt.”

Dated Jan. 27, 2003, the notes focus on the impending U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

“The current schedule is that the bombing will start on 2/15,” the notes read, according to an English translation provided with the document. “At that time there will be 160-180 thousand American soldiers. The ground attack will start at the beginning of March.”

Of course, as Shagel argues, this information was widely known, though little discussed. The numbers turned out to be pretty far off at first, but more accurate later; the dates turned out to be off by a couple of weeks. I could have produced something that accurate from the Post and the Times, had I wished to pass information to a worthless piece of humanity like Saddam.

It might have been harmless business talk designed to keep the customer in the store. But BayOil, the company Wyatt, David Chalmers, convicted today, and others were involved with, had additional issues with the Feds. And some history, going back to the Iran-Iraq war in which Saddam was our son of a bitch. Seems BayOil helped set up a three-way deal in which Saddam got arms, BayOil got oil, and the arms dealer got cash. What did Saddam’s little heart desire? Cluster bombs.

Apparently oil made Wyatt do it. He’s a fine symbol for an empire about to ride its favorite wealth-concentration engine down the tubes. Chessplayers try to develop a spidey-sense of danger lurking. In this situation, no such sensitivity is required. Many, I daresay most, Americans are interested in environmental quality, even to the point of supporting intelligent taxes for cleanup and enforcement. In San Francisco Priuses are everywhere, as are recycling bins. (In northern California, it’s not our fault that we put on the mileage like there’s no tomorrow: everything’s so far away from everything else. Right?)

Nationwide, we continue to use oil as if it will be here forever. You don’t have to believe that we’ve reached the Hubbert peak to see the slowing rate of new discoveries coinciding with an increase in demand both significant and continuing. As Michael Klare says, tough oil times are ahead. Five years from now, if things go pretty well.

Which Presidential candidate is most likely to act to reduce our dependence on oil? We should be asking them now, when they’re taking questions.