AZERBAIJAN - US Lobbyists.

Ilham has also inherited his father's contacts with influential lobbyists in Washington, including Jewish leaders. His father had developed close links with US Vice President Dick Cheney, who until he joined George W. Bush's presidential ticket in 2000 was the CEO of Halliburton. This oil services company has been operating in Azerbaijan for years. Before Bush ran for the presidency in 2000, as governor of Texas, he was also close to other oilmen with connections to Heydar Aliyev.

Lloyd Bentsen, once a treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, has been a shareholder in Frontera Resources, a US oil services firm which has been working in Azerbaijan. Frontera is chaired by another Texan, William White, a deputy secretary of energy in the Clinton administration.

The national security chief under the previous Bush administration, Brent Scowcroft, was reportedly paid $100,000 in 1996 by Pennzoil for providing consultations on international projects, including E&P in Azerbaijan. Scowcroft was said to have earned a handsome director's fee from the company, with Pennzoil President Tom Hamilton having become a friend of Heydar Aliyev.

AIOC has been a client of former secretary of state James Baker's law firm. Baker served in the former Bush administration. Consulting firm JHS Associates of John Sununu, a former White House chief of staff in the previous Bush administration, was contracted by the Baku government during Heydar Aliyev's visit to the US in July/August 1997. Carter national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski has advised BP, with AIOC promoting Baku's cause in the US.