Iraq Oil Workers Union letter to our congress on oil theft law

[yurbud]

I missed this when the bill was still in play.

It's still tragically relevant.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Open Letter to the Members of he US Congress who Oppose the War on Iraq

To members of the European Parliaments who Oppose the War

Peace be upon you and greetings to you all,

We wish to clarify certain matters relating to events in Iraq for our friends among the members of the US Congress. It is common knowledge that the occupation spared neither the old nor the young, and that Iraq is passing through the most difficult of times because all and sundry are hounding it and covet a share of its riches. We see no good reason for linking the passing of the feeble Iraqi oil law to the withdrawal of the occupation troops from Iraq.

Everyone knows that the oil law does not serve the Iraqi people, and that it serves Bush, his supporters and the foreign companies at the expense of the Iraqi people who have been wronged and deprived of their right to their oil despite enduring all difficulties.

We ask our friends not to link withdrawal with the oil law, especially since the USA claimed that it came to Iraq as a liberator and not in order to control Iraq’s resources.

The general public in Iraq is totally convinced that Bush wants to rush the promulgation of the oil law so as to be leaving Iraq with a victory of sorts, because his project is failing every day and the occupation is collapsing in all parts of Iraq.

We wish to see you take a true stance for the children of Iraq, and we always say that history will remember those who advance peace over war.

With my regards,

Hassan Jum’a Awwad
Head of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions

http://www.basraoilunion.org/index.html

There was some good news on their blog. They had been threatening to strike and one of their demands was that Maliki let them review the Hydrocarbon Law. He agreed to all their demands.

http://www.basraoilunion.org/index.html

[Tom Joad]

1. too bad that letter is going to fall on 499 deaf ears. only a handful in congress give a shit about

Iraqi workers.

[mmonk]

2. I know this was a major purpose for us invading Iraq,

but the oil law (bush benchmark) will determine a lot of what kind of violence and also possible terrorism we are to face in the future.

[yurbud]

4. yep. If Iraqis think they've been screwed, that's more violence for troops to deal with

and if Bushies think they got a good deal, they will want troops to stay to enforce it.

[seafan]

3. Good for the Iraqi Oil Workers Union.

So Maliki caved and allowed the Iraqi Oil Workers Union to read Bush's Hydrocarbon Grab Law?

Mr. Vindictive will never let that stand. :sarcasm:


Iraq’s PM Al-Maliki doesn’t trust his own military: Threat of a Coup

[yurbud]

5. yeah, I thought that was a pretty mild demand on something so crucial

[stillcool]

6. here's some other related stuff...

Diplomatic Buzz
Bush to Send Meghan O'Sullivan to Iraq
Former Top Aide Tasked to Help Iraqis Meet Benchmarks
Posted 5 hr. 44 min. ago

Though many items of mutual concern were discussed during today's White House meeting between the Iraqi and US presidents, benchmarks appeared to have been the primary focus. Washington has been urging the Iraqis to move more aggressively on draft legislation that would address the equal distribution of oil revenue, reform the de-Baathification process, and plan for provincial elections.
http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/3020/Bush_to_Send_Meghan_OSullivan_to_Iraq

Iraqi oil law nears final stage
By SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press Writer Wed Apr 18, 6:24 AM ET

Iraq's hotly debated draft oil law is to be sent to parliament "within the coming few days if everything goes well," the Oil Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday.

"The draft is with the State Shura Council now to be put in a legal form after being written in technical language," Assem Jihad told The Associated Press in a phone interview. He gave no date for the bill's introduction.

"We are expecting to take no more than two months to discuss it inside the parliament ... between one and two months it depends on the parliament," Jihad added.

The Iraqi oil legislation, which was endorsed by the cabinet last February, will open the door for the government to sign contracts for exploration and production of the country's vast untapped reserves.

It was designed to create a fair distribution of oil profits to all Iraqis and it is perhaps the most important piece of legislation for Iraq's American patrons.

Passage of the law, thought to have been written with heavy U.S. involvement, is one of four benchmarks the Bush administration has set for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's struggling government.
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/070418/ap/d8oiv4eo0.html

Top Iraqi Officials Arrive in Dubai to Discuss Draft Oil Law
by Oliver Klaus Dow Jones Newswires Tuesday, April 17, 2007
DUBAI, Apr 17, 2007 (Dow Jones News)
Iraqi officials and businessmen arrived in the United Arab Emirates Tuesday ahead of a meeting in Dubai on April 18 to discuss their country's controversial but crucial draft hydrocarbon law, intended to attract investments into the country's ailing energy sector.

The 85-strong Iraqi delegation is led by Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih and also comprises Planning Minister Ali Baban, Oil Minister Hussein Al Sharistani, former oil minister Thamir Ghadban and several other parliamentarians as well as Iraqi oil specialists and businessmen.
...........................................................................................
Several former Iraqi oil ministers and officials and veteran Iraqi oil experts, who have already fled the country's chaos but continue to hold some influence in Baghdad's politics and industry, urged the parliament to reject the draft law during a seminar they held in Amman last month. They feared that the new legislation would further divide the country already witnessing civil strife.
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The legislation in its current form fails to clarify issues critical for investment in the country, namely the terms for foreign oil companies' participation, and whether they would be allowed to take majority stakes in some Iraqi oil fields.
Copyright (c) 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
http://rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=43956

The Struggle over Iraqi Oil
Eyes Eternally on the Prize
By Michael Schwartz*
TomDispatch
May 8, 2007
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Perhaps most formidable of all is the Federation of Oil Unions, with 26,000 members and allies throughout organized labor. The oil workers overturned contracts in 2003 and 2004 that would have placed substantial oil facilities under multinational corporate control; and they initiated a vigorous campaign against the U.S. sponsored oil program as early as June 2005 -- calling a conference to oppose privatization attended by "workers, academics, and international civil-society groups." In January 2006, they convened a convention composed of all major Iraqi union groups in Amman, Jordan, which issued a manifesto opposing the entire neo-liberal U.S. program for Iraq, including any compromise on national control of oil production.

At a second Amman labor meeting in December of 2006, the Federation of Oil Unions announced its opposition to the pending law even before it was released. Iraq's trade unions, speaking in a single voice, declared that: "Iraqi public opinion strongly opposes the handing of authority and control over the oil to foreign companies, that aim to make big profits at the expense of the people. They aim to rob Iraq's national wealth by virtue of unfair, long term oil contracts that undermine the sovereignty of the State and the dignity of the Iraqi people."

When the bill was made public, oil union president Hassan Jumaa denounced it before yet another protest meeting, stating: "History will not forgive those who play recklessly with our wealth…. We consider the new law unbalanced and incoherent with the hopes of those who work in the oil industry. It has been drafted in a great rush in harsh circumstances."

He then called on the government to consult Iraqi oil experts (who had not participated in drafting the law) and "ask their opinion before sinking Iraq into an ocean of dark injustice."
f the oil workers and their union allies decide to organize protests or strikes, they are likely to have the Iraqi public on their side. Fully three-quarters of Iraqis believe that the United States invaded in order to gain control of Iraqi oil, and most observers believe they will surely agree with the oil workers that this law is a vehicle for that control. Even Iyad Allawi has now publicly taken a stand opposing it, perhaps the best indication that opposition will be virtually unanimous.

Finally -- and no small matter -- the armed resistance is also against the oil law. The Sunni insurgency underscored its opposition by assassinating Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi, a major advocate of the pending law, on the day the bill was made public. The significance of the opposition of the Sunni insurgency is amplified by the stance of the Sadrists, the most rebellious segment of the Shia majority. Sadr spokesman Sheikh Gahaith Al Temimi warned journalist Christian Parenti that while the Sadrists would "welcome" foreign investment in oil, they would do so only "under certain conditions. We want our oil to be developed, not stolen. If a bad law were to be passed, all people of Iraq would resist it."
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About the Author: Michael Schwartz, Professor of Sociology and Faculty Director of the Undergraduate College of Global Studies at Stony Brook University, has written extensively on popular protest and insurgency, and on American business and government dynamics. His books include Radical Protest and Social Structure, and Social Policy and the Conservative Agenda (edited, with Clarence Lo). His work on Iraq has appeared on numerous Internet sites including Tomdispatch, Asia Times, Mother Jones, and ZNet, and in print in Contexts, Against the Current, and Z Magazine
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/oil/2007/0508strug...

[yurbud]

7. good collection. I think it's no coincidence Iraqi parliament went on vacation without passing

hydrocarbon law.

If they pass it, Iraqis will kill them.

If they reject it, Bush will kill them.

If they go on vacation, Bush's power here and grip on Iraq slips further and further away.