Iraq Wants to Control its Own Oil: Democrats and Republicans Alike, Say No Way

I wrote an article about the for SG called the elephant in the room a while back accusing our government of orchestrating this war. I know, I know, stating the obvious. A privatization law written by the oil companies to strong arm Iraq to turn over their oil to private companies. But, the Iraqi people, Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds want no part of it. A new poll confirms this.

Washington and big oil are pushing for this privatization very hard. If passed, the Bush administration's long-sought "hydrocarbons framework" law would give Big Oil access to Iraq's vast energy reserves on the most advantageous terms and with virtually no regulation. Subhi al-Badri, head of the Iraqi Federation of Union Councils says "If the Iraqi Parliament approves this law, we will resort to mutiny," he said. "This law is a bomb that may kill everyone. Iraqi oil does not belong to any certain side. It belongs to all future generations."

But Washington continues to push that "bomb" onto the Iraqi people, calling it a vital benchmark on the road to a fully sovereign Iraq. Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio accused his own party of "promoting" President Bush's effort to privatize Iraq's oil "under the guise of a reconciliation program."

But, a group of NGO's came together and conducted a poll of all Iraqis as to the privatization law. It found that Iraqis from all ethnic and sectarian groups and across the political spectrum oppose the principles enshrined in the laws. This is startling considering ethnic Iraqis cannot agree on much. It also begs the question what is this war about? Now, again this is an obvious question with an obvious answer.

But, the Bush administration continues to spin the tail of the occupation as a "grand scheme" to democratize the middle east and provide a model of Iraqi democracy. But, this is proof positive an Iraqi democracy is a threat to U. S. interests. This story is all but ignored in the corporate American media. Despite the Kurds calling for civil war about their own oil interests, the media ignores the prime mover of this occupation: oil. Iraqi democracy is occurring uniting against the United States in privatizing their oil resources. Our response, is not that kind of democracy.

From the article above:

The law, after all, was not designed with Iraqis' prosperity in mind; plans for throwing the country's oil sector open to (almost) unregulated foreign investment were hashed out by a State Department working group that included major players from the oil industry long before the planning for the invasion itself. These plans were discussed in the White House (under the guidance of Dick Cheney) before that -- even before the attacks of 9/11.

The framework law -- from what we know from a series of leaked drafts -- will hand over effective control of as much as 80 percent of the country's oil wealth to foreign firms with minimal state participation. According to an analysis by the oil watchdog group Platform, Iraq stands to lose tens of billions of dollars in potential revenues under the contract terms being considered.

The administration claims the privatization is needed for the dire need to invest in Iraq's infrastructure, which is a blatant lie. It should come as no surprise that Iraqis overwhelmingly reject this arrangement. According to the poll of 2,200 Iraqis released this week, almost two-thirds of Iraqis said they would prefer "Iraq's oil to be developed and produced by Iraqi state-owned companies" over foreign companies. Less than a third favored foreign control -- less than the number who expressed a "strong preference" for the sector to remain under state control.

Remember, though this is a democratically passed initiative, not something the democrats are aligning against. For more go to the full article.