Cheney's Secret Energy Meeting Pays Off in Just 6 Years: Iraq Prepared to Hand Over 2/3 of Its Oil

[babylonsister]

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/23829

Cheney's Secret Energy Meeting Pays Off in Just Six Years: Iraq Is Prepared to Hand Over 2/3 of Its Oil
Submitted by davidswanson on Thu, 2007-06-21 09:46. Media

Iraqi politicians agree to deal on sharing oil, says Kurd minister
By Michael Howard in Sulaymaniya, The Guardian

Iraq's Kurdish leaders said last night they had struck an important deal with the central government in Baghdad over a law to divide up Iraq's oil revenues, which is seen by the Bush administration as one of the benchmarks in attempts to foster national reconciliation.
Ashti Hawrami, the minister for natural resources in the Kurdistan regional government, told the Guardian the text had been finalised late last night after 48 hours of "tough bargaining" with Baghdad. The deal represented "a genuine revenue sharing agreement" that was transparent and would benefit all the people of Iraq and help pull the country together, he said.

Iraq's oil revenue accounted for 93% of the federal budget last year. Iraq sells about 1.6m barrels a day.

Mr Hawrami said the law provided for the setting up of two "regulated and monitored" accounts into which external and internal revenues would be deposited. The external account would include items such as oil export earnings and foreign donor money, while the internal fund would consist largely of customs and taxes. The federal government in Baghdad would take what it needed, and the rest would be automatically distributed to the Kurdistan regional government, which would get 17%, and to Iraq's governorates "according to their entitlement". Revenues would be distributed monthly, he said.

Mr Hawrami said the system would better enable Iraqis to track how and where the oil funds were being spent. The Kurds, for example, have complained that remittances to their self-rule region have been being held back by up to six months in Baghdad. Iraq's Sunni Arabs had also expressed concerns that they might miss out on their share.

Iraq's finance minister, Bayan Jabr, and the oil minister, Hussein Sharistani, were accompanying the president, Jalal Talabani, on a state a visit to China and could not be contacted for comment.

The new deal came days after a visit to Iraq by the US defence secretary, Robert Gates, during which he rebuked politicians for failing to reach consensus on sharing oil revenues. The US sees the deal as a benchmark of progress toward reconciliation.

A western diplomat in Baghdad said last night: "Fair-sharing of Iraq's oil revenue is important to finding a sustainable political solution in Iraq. But on its own it will not halt the sectarianism."

[Rydz777]

1. I've been trying without success to find the details of the

"agreement" that we're trying to impose on the Iraqis. This seems to be an accounting mechanism relating to distribution of the revenues. The devil in the details, I think, would be any provisions on "privatisation" and investment by foreign companies. I'm sure that is what Cheney & Co. want, but I've read that the Iraqis are resisting it.

[mmonk]

3. That's why the government we have installed

along with the fact we intend to have permanent military bases there to enforce hegemony will probably keep violence going for good while. I know our government wants to hurry and complete the deal so they can claim victory and the "democratization" of Iraq complete. Mission accomplished. The illegal conquest of another country for their natural resources and wealth while telling dumb John Q Public the victory over terrorism in Iraq is at hand and our benevolent work complete.

[AntiFascist]

9. Exactly my feeling...

another reason for allowing the war to continue: allow Iranian supplies and insurgents to gain a foothold, providing more reason to attack Iran and begin taking control of their oil fields.

[acmavm]

2. Wonder if the 'insurgents' and 'al Quaeda' are going to go along with

this bill?

[Solly Mack]

4. ...

...

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. As far as I'm concerned, the family of the soldiers who died in Iraq

should have free gasoline for the rest of their lives, and it should be paid for by that black heart, Dick Cheney.

[slipslidingaway]

6. Please see this clarification...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1151710&mesg_id=1151890

"It's only splitting the revenues they GET...

Posted by Bruce McAuley

It means nothing concerning the "Hydrocarbon Law" which gives the Iraqi oil profits to Exxon and shores up our Petrodollar for the next 30 years.

That said, I suspect the Kurds are as dead set against us stealing their oil as any other Iraqi would be.

Bruce"

[Canuckistanian]

7. This whole thing sounds like a Nigerian scam

two "regulated and monitored" accounts?

Who regulates? Who monitors?

And the agreement was "arranged" while the oil minister and the finance minister were out of the country?

This whole deal sounds "pre-arranged".

[VP505]

8. When its all

said and done we (the USA) will either have stolen their wealth (OIL) or the perception that we have will be used as another reason to hate us.

[Karenina]

10. The U.S. has been pumping unmetered oil

out of Iraq since March 2003. DAILY.

[TX-RAT]

11. Link?

[Karenina]

12. Go to Bartcop.