Bush Pushes Iraq Oil Law for ExxonMobil

[babylonsister]

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/06/14/1866/

Bush Pushes Iraq Oil Law for ExxonMobil
by Matthew Rothschild

With Iraq going to hell, and the al-Maliki government failing to meet one benchmark after another, Bush is getting desperate.

On Sunday, he sent Admiral Fallon, the chief U.S. commander in the Mideast, to lean on Prime Minister al-Maliki.

On Tuesday, John Negroponte, former U.S. ambassador to Iraq and the UN, flew to Baghdad to lean on al-Maliki.

And what were they leaning on him for, above all?

Passage of the new oil bill, which would turn over Iraqi’s liquid treasure to foreign corporations like ExxonMobil.

This is the paramount concern of the Bush Administration.

It is being sold to the American people as a way to equalize revenues to various segments of Iraqi society.

But the true reason for it is to line the pockets of U.S. oil executives.

“The law would transform Iraq’s oil industry from a nationalized model closed to American oil companies except for limited (although highly lucrative) marketing contracts into a commercial industry, all-but-privatized, that is fully open to all international oil companies,” Antonia Juhasz, author of “The Bush Agenda,” wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times on March 13.

“The Iraq National Oil Company would have exclusive control of just 17 of Iraq’s 80 known oil fields, leaving two-thirds of known—and all of its as yet undiscovered—fields open to foreign control,” Juhasz wrote. “The foreign companies would not have to invest their earnings in the Iraqi economy, partner with Iraqi companies, hire Iraqi workers or share new technologies. . . The international oil companies could also be offered some of the most corporate-friendly contracts in the world.”

Not surprisingly, the Iraqi people don’t want their oil privatized. They’ve been resisting this move in parliament, and in the streets.

Iraq’s oil unions have been leading this resistance movement, holding demonstrations and waging strikes, as recently as June 4 in Basra.

So bothered by this is the Bush Administration that it ordered U.S. fighter jets to circle over and buzz the demonstrators, according to labor journalist David Bacon.

Bush is at least consistent, though.

He’s still working for the oil industry, and he’s anti-union here, and he’s anti-union there.

[acmavm]

1. I am always amazed by how blatant they are in thier 'thuggishness'. If

you get my drift...

[babylonsister]

2. I do, and I'm so tired of them getting away with it. nt

[whistle]

3. Bush is just taking orders from the people who got him fraudulently elected

...the Big Oil people, you see he owes them!

[ellenfl]

4. i keep tellin' ya . . . dimson is not leaving until the iraqi oil is

privatized . . . and not by iraqi companies. i just hope the iraqis can hold him off long enough for us to finally get out of there. dimson will take our troops out of iraq the day after that bill is passed. i take it back . . . he will leave our troops there to guard the oil fields for the benefit of big oil.

ellen fl

[Initech]

5. Can we please burn all the oil companies down to the ground already?

I'm getting tired of this crap, whoever started that whole "war for oil" thing was absolutely correct.

[Decruiter]

6. Please just read up on some history. Look up T. E. Lawrence,

"Lawrence of Arabia". Read about what has happened in the Mid-East since the late 1800's going forward, and then just imagine that is where you live. WHERE YOUR FAMILY IS FROM.

Picture yourself here in this country, being invaded because your part of the nation sits on top of a huge oil or natural gas reserve. I live in such an area and I do know how I would feel. It would not be a partisan issue, anymore.

We need to stop this BS. It is our responsibility, as citizens, as "we the people" to demand it of our representatives. We need to supply them with the Constitution, a copy of their oath of office and demand that they do the damned job they were elected to do.