Iraqi
Oil Belongs To The Iraqi People
By Nancy Wohlforth
& Fred Mason
03 April, 2007
CommonDreams.org
The
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have already cost the American people more
than $500 billion, the deaths of 3200 U.S. troops, 25,000 others wounded,
and countless Iraqi lives. The total price tag is projected to top $1.2
trillion.With the fourth anniversary of the U.S. invasion and occupation
of Iraq upon us, the Bush administration asks Congress for $93 billion
more for the war, over and above the fiscal year 2008 Pentagon request
for $484 billion - an 11% increase over last year! The war machine eats
well while starving our people of decent housing, quality health care,
and education. The Gulf Coast remains a disaster.
Many of us felt shame in
the opening days of the invasion as our soldiers were ordered to protect
the Oil Ministry, oil fields, refineries, and distribution system while
wholesale looting of Iraq’s antiquities unfolded. The message
to the Iraqis was clear: “We’ve come for the oil.”
There were no weapons of mass destruction. Hussein is gone yet we are
still there. Rather than democracy, we brought massive destruction and
civil war to Iraq.
Giving credence to Iraqis’
fears, a new Petroleum Law will be presented to the Iraqi Parliament
that, if enacted, will put effective control of Iraq’s vast oil
resources in the hands of foreign companies. Nationalized since 1975,
Iraq’s oil was, before the years of sanctions and the invasion,
the foundation for a relatively high standard of living, producing more
PhD’s per capita than the U.S. and a health care system prized
as the best in the region.
President Bush says the war
is not about oil but his actions belie that claim. In the months before
the March 2003 invasion, members of the U.S. State Department “Oil
and Energy Working Group” met to plan how to open Iraq to international
oil companies. As reported by investigative journalist Greg Palast,
the oil law now proposed by the Iraqi Council of Ministers is a virtual
photocopy of a plan first drafted by U.S. oil industry executives and
consultants in Houston long before Iraq was “liberated.”
The proposed Petroleum Law
creates a Federal Oil and Gas Council on which would sit representatives
of Exxon- Mobil, Shell, BP, etc., whose tasks include approving their
own contracts. Instead of Iraqi central government decision-making on
oil, the proposal authorizes regional authorities to individually sign
contracts with foreign companies, promoting contract bidding wars between
regions that could lead to breaking Iraq into three states.
The practice in Iraq - as
in other countries with giant reserves - has been that control of oil
production rests with public sector oil companies. The role of foreign
companies is limited to “service contracts.” A company is
contracted to provide a stated service for a limited period - build
a refinery, lay a pipeline, drill a field. Decisions on development,
distribution, and flow of profits remain with the government. Kuwait,
Saudi Arabia and Iran run their industries this way.
However, the proposed Petroleum
Law provides for “production sharing agreements,” or long-term
contracts whereby foreign companies control production, development
and sale of the oil for up to 30 years, and reap as much as 70% of the
profits. Given the severe weakness of Iraqi institutions, with the country
devastated, under military occupation and mired in civil strife, Iraq
is unlikely to receive a fair deal. With huge reserves and low production
costs, foreign oil companies in Iraq stand to make enormous profits
at the expense of the welfare of Iraq’s people and Iraqi sovereignty.
Iraq’s people will
not take this looting of their national treasure lying down. Five major
Iraqi labor federations, including the Federation of Oil Workers, have
condemned the draft law and warn this is a “red-line” issue
for Iraq. They recognize the hijack this law, drafted at the behest
of the oil cartel, represents.
This oil scenario further
stains our international reputation while doing nothing to curb U.S.
dependence on foreign oil and our urgent need to develop sustainable
energy.
Congress must cut all funding
for the war except what is needed for the safe, rapid withdrawal of
every U.S. soldier and private contractor, closing of U.S. bases, and
meeting our obligation to fund Iraq’s reconstruction. Iraqi sovereignty
over their oil and every day life is in the best interests of U.S. working
people, starting with our troops. Bring all the troops home now.
Nancy Wohlforth is Secretary-Treasurer
of the Office & Professional Employees International Union/AFL-CIO
and Co-President of Pride At Work. She is a member of the AFL-CIO General
Executive Council. Fred Mason is President of the Maryland and DC AFL-CIO.
U.S. Labor Against the War is a national network of more than 150 labor
organizations opposed to the war and occupation in Iraq.
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