NEW YORK – A judge today said a jury could hear evidence in the upcoming trial of a Texas oilman showing that he encouraged opposition to the 2003 American invasion of Iraq and bragged about it to Iraqi officials to win oil contracts.

Federal District Judge Denny Chin said he agreed with defense lawyers that the material was “extremely prejudicial.” However, he also said it was “highly relevant” in the case against Oscar S. Wyatt Jr.

Mr. Wyatt, 83, of Houston, is accused of conspiring to pay millions of dollars in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein’s regime to win contracts under the United Nations’ oil-for-food program in Iraq. If convicted, Wyatt could face more than 60 years in prison.

Prosecutors earlier this month had asked Judgw Chin in a letter to admit statements about Mr. Wyatt from a diary kept by an employee of Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization.

The diary claims that Wyatt bragged at a Jan. 27, 2003, meeting of the organization that he had convinced an American senator to speak out against an attack on Iraq.

The diary said Mr. Wyatt also discussed the nature of an American invasion of Iraq, including anticipated troop numbers, timing and direction of attack, prosecutors said.

Judge Chin ruled that prosecutors can show the jury evidence of Mr. Wyatt’s cozy relationship with the Iraqis throughout the 1990s – including the diary – brushing aside objections from defense lawyer Gerald Shargel that the diary was unfairly prejudicial.

“What it shows is Mr. Wyatt was trying extremely hard to get additional oil allocations,” the judge said. He cited evidence showing Wyatt received his first allocation of oil under the oil-for-food program in 1996 and continued to receive oil until the 2003 war even after other American citizens were cut off.

“Why was the Iraqi government treating Mr. Wyatt so well?” the judge asked rhetorically. “It was because of this relationship and this is further evidence of that relationship.”

Mr. Shargel had argued in court papers that the government’s evidence amounted to an attempt to portray his client as a traitor.

The judge said he was willing to instruct the jury that Mr. Wyatt was not charged with treason.

Mr. Shargel also protested what he called a plan by the government to poison the jury by “waving the image of Saddam Hussein” in front of them.

Mr. Shargel has said his client never told the Iraqis anything that was not publicly known leading up to the war.

“Oscar Wyatt has shown time and again that he’s an American patriot. He was a war hero, flying bombing missions in World War II. He loves this country. He doesn’t love this administration,” Mr. Shargel said.

The oil-for-food program, which ran from 1996 to 2003, was created to help Iraqis cope with U.N. sanctions imposed after Saddam’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait. It let the Iraqi government sell oil primarily to buy humanitarian goods.