How will Iraq share the oil?...US firms as the major beneficiary?

[ProSense]

How will Iraq share the oil?

<...>

"While we can't confirm it, there are enough reports out there that appear to indicate that undue, unfair preference and the influence of our oil companies are part of the Iraqi hydrocarbon law, and if that is true, that is not correct," says Rep. Joe Sestak (news, bio, voting record) (D) of Pennsylvania, a former admiral and defense adviser to the Clinton administration. "The aim of benchmarks is to help the process along, but we need benchmarks that are appropriate for the Iraqis and the Americans – not just our economy but our ideals."

US firms as the major beneficiary?

Fueling new resistance to the oil benchmark are reports that the draft law in fact says little about sharing oil revenues among Iraqi groups and a lot about setting up a framework for investment that may be disadvantageous to Iraqis over the long term. On the flip side: Iraq's oil industry badly needs new investment, and oil companies are reluctant to go into Iraq without a legal framework that ensures that the contracts they sign will be respected by future Iraqi governments.

Last week, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D) of Ohio, who is a presidential candidate, led off opposition to the draft law in a letter to Democratic colleagues. On Thursday, a coalition of oil industry watchdog groups and peace activists called on Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record) and Senator Reid to drop the Iraqi oil law as a benchmark for progress in Iraq.

"If Democrats are perceived to be advocating withdrawal (of US troops) only after access to Iraqi oil has been assured, this will do little to reassure critics," says Steve Kretzmann, executive director of Oil Change International, a watchdog group that drafted the letter.

In an open letter to Democrats in the US Congress last week, Hasan Jum'a Awwad, head of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions, echoed that view. He urged that lawmakers "not link withdrawal (of US troops) 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."

more

The U.S. could withdraw the troops and leave the oil behind. It belongs to the Iraqis.

[malaise]

1. They won't

The Iraqis will not allow it.

[Trajan]

2. Related topic ....

HOW does crude oil get siphoned off without the express knowledge and presumed approval of the US Military ?

WHO is taking it ?

WHERE is it going ?

WHO's tankers are loaded with it ? .....

WHO is selling it ?

Millions upon millions of barrels of oil ..... disappearing ....

Someone is getting it ..... I would venture to guess that 'someone' has roots in the Texas Oil business ... Friends of Dick and George ....

[yurbud]

3. add Sestak to the list of honest Dems

[yurbud]

4. HYDROCARBON GUERILLAS: vote this up on Digg, Buzzflash.net, & Netscape LINKS

Buzz
http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=13517

Digg
http://digg.com/world_news/How_will_Big_Oil_share_Iraq

Netscape
http://news.netscape.com/story/2007/05/20/how-will-big-oil-share-iraq

[blogslut]

5. Greg Palast brought up a point

in his May Day speech. To paraphrase:

"We didn't go there to get the oil. We went there to turn it off. That way the supply would go down and the oil companies could raise the prices. Exxon and all the others have made obscene profits since the war. They have made more money than human beings have ever made before. Mission accomplished."

Iraq will never have the autonomous control of its oil, not with these bastards in charge.