Big Oil in Iraq: "World Class Racketeering"

[EV_Ares]

It was clear from the start that the Iraqis would not meet the "benchmarks" that Congress and Bush have imposed on it.

But anyone who expected them to is deluded. Not simply because the timelines are unreasonable, but because those who want to hold Iraqis "accountable" (as if they are in a position to make such demands) fail to understand what the benchmarks are about to begin with.

Congress might have learned a great deal about one of those benchmarks had it paid attention to a hearing held by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs back on July 18.

As experts who have followed Iraq's oil sector explained at the hearing, one benchmark Iraq is being pressured to pass involves not one but a series of hydrocarbon laws (i.e. not just a revenue law that divvies up Iraq's oil revenues between the federal government and the different regions, but also three other interrelated laws that would also establish the oil sector legal framework, the Ministry of Oil and the new Iraqi National Oil Company).

The confusion over what Iraq is being asked to do may be a failure that critics can lay at the media's feet, but the more important issue as far as I can tell is the manner in which these laws are being pushed so aggressively -- which, as Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) put it, has the potential to "jeopardize entire constitutional order."

GAO's Joseph Christoff, a key witness at the hearing, explained that Iraq is being pressured to pass the hydrocarbon laws at a time when we don't even know, for example, what regions will even exist that might lay claim to a portion of the oil revenues.

The committee responsible for drafting changes to the country's constitution has not even been formed. Thus, the role of the regions and whether or not new regions will be formed, such as a Shi'a region in the South, has not yet been determined, and defining the regions will have some bearing on how the oil revenues would be divided.

(rest of the article @ link below)

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/26576

[ludwigb]

1. Why Isn't the MSM Talking About This?

Afterdowningstreet has been on this story from the beginning.

What really bugs me about the oil grab is there isn't even any mainstream propaganda to justify it. It's simply not talked about. Our politicians lecture with furrowed brows about how Iraqis are failing at "political reconciliation". But the fact of the matter is we demand that they sign over their oil resources while we continue to pump more troops into the country and increase the violence.

We are laying the groundwork to stay there until all the oil is gone, all resistance is wiped out, or both of the above. And the Democratic Party isn't doing shit about it.

Someone explain to me how forcing oil privatization on Iraq in conditions like these can be justified. Can't do it? Then how do you explain your support for the mainstream candidates who refuse to speak up about this?

Dennis Kucinich, Bill Richardson, Ron Paul, maybe Chris Dodd, and perhaps John Edwards (presumably Edwards wants out because we can't go ahead with oil privatization if our troops are out in 1 year) appear to be the only candidates prepared to break from this course. Meanwhile, the Senate is totally devoid of any principled opposition to war profiteering, barring an occasion heroic foray by Feingold or Leahy.