e to the detriment of an existing concessionaire," but he went on to refer to the danger that in Iraq "foreign companiesâ€”German, Japanese and Italianâ€”would acquire concessions shutting Sinclair out." Governor Harriman replied: "We could not wish governments, such as Iraq, to get the impression that American oil companies can be pushed around." In return Mr. Steiniger alluded to the Achilles' heel of IPC's case: "Sinclair was not interested in taking proven areas which IPC wishes to exploit but Sinclair understands that many favorable areas in Iraq were drilled by IPC and then abandoned." Governor Harriman closed the meeting by suggesting that Sinclair "hint to the Iraqis that its offer is affected by what takes place between the GOI [Government of Iraq] and IPC." There is nothing in the record to indicate whether Steiniger conveyed this suggestion which, if accepted by the Iraqis, would have ruined his own changes of securing a concession.
Two weeks later, a similar meeting was held between Ambassador Jernegan of the State Department and James Richards of Standard Oil of Indiana, another large company lacking a Mideast concession. It would appear from the Memorandum of Conversation that this company (formerly a part of the old Standard Oil "Trust") evidenced a greater spirit of cooperativeness: "Standard of Indiana, he [Richards] said, has been very careful not to appear to do anything until it is clear that the company's action would not be infringing on the rights of another company. Ambassador Jernegan replied, â€˜That's what I wanted to hear you say.' He noted the worldwide repercussions which would emanate from Iraq's getting away with expropriation of IPC's concession territory, particularly if other American companies reached agreement with the Iraq Government prior to an IPC-GOI settlement. The ambassador was assured that â€˜Standard of Indiana would do no such thing.'"
By early July, the Department was able to report that it had successfully "interceded with all American companies which to its knowledge or belief have expressed interest in Iraq land concessions in order to deter them from making offers to GOI while critical IPC-GOI negotiations in progress."* In an outgoing telegram of July 8, Under Secretary George Ball stated, "The firms to which Department has spoken are Sinclair, Union Oil, Standard of Indiana, Continental, Marathon, Pauly, and Phillips. These companies have been responsive to Department's urgings and it is therefore incumbent on us to make same effort with any new American or American-affiliated company which appears to be entering Iraq picture."
Despite the fact that by the end of the year the Department had made its views known "forcefully and repeatedly to Sinclair, Continental and some 8 other companies," a cloud loomed on the horizon: "U.S. independents are becoming increasingly nervous lest other American or non-American companies get in ahead of them and cause them to lose out entirely." During the next two years the problem subsided as a compromise agreement was reached in 1965 between IPC and the Government of Iraq. But the agreement was never ratified, and in 1967 the issue resurfaced. The principal aspiring "poachers" (to use Secretary Rusk's term) were the Italians and the French. Here, the U.S. governments could engage in "harassment of majors," which, as Rusk noted, "dictates cautious approach to problem."
On May 13, the Financial Times of London reported a "'clash' of U.K., U.S., France and Netherlands with Italy over reported ENI [the Italian state-owned oil company] negotiations to take 20 million tons of crude from INOC [the government-owned Iraq National Oil Company] in return for leading role in exploitation of concession areas which were to have been explored by BP, Shell, Mobil and CFP." Protests were lodged with the Italian Foreign Office by ambassadors of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and The Netherlands. According to Ambassador David Bruce, "Four companies and respective government furious that Italians interfering with 1965 agreement." In this 