Iraqis Protest Oil Law Today

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Tag(s): Basra; Bush Crimes; Congress Failed Oversight Democracy; Foreign Policy Failure Iraq; International Crime; International Labor Solidarity; Iraq Oil Law; Iraq Reconstruction; Iraq War; Labor Issues Intl; Occupation; Oil Foreign Ownership; Oil Rights
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July 16, 2007 at 16:59:54

Iraqis Protest Oil Law Today

by Kathlyn Stone Page 1 of 1 page(s)

http://www.opednews.com

www.handsoffiraqioil.org

The draft hydrocarbon law being pushed by the Bush Administration is uniting citizens and disparate groups within Iraq against the U.S. government. Protests within Iraq are escalating as the Iraqi Parliament is pressured to pass the law which would turn over 70-80% of oil revenues to foreign companies. The Parliament is also wrangling over whether the oil law will be implemented under regional or national management. The Iraq Freedom Congress and the Anti-Oil Law Frontier staged a mass demonstration in Baghdad on July 7. Subhi Al-Badri, head of the Frontier, predicted an intensifying revolt against the law as pressure mounts for its passage. He said the majority of Iraqis "reject the oil law and it is in fact the law of slavery and servitude."

This report from today's protests in three cities is from US Labor Against the War and Oil Change International:

Basra, Iraq -- Today hundreds of Iraqis, led by the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU), took to the streets of Basra to demand that the Iraqi Parliament reject the proposed Oil Law.[1] Simultaneous demonstrations took place in Amara and Nassiryya. Local governate officials made statements in support of the demonstration and, along with the governor of Basra, have committed to sending letters to the Minister of Oil supporting the Union's demands.

Hassan Juma'a Awad al Assadi, President of the IFOU, charges that the proposed Oil Law surrenders Iraq's economic sovereignty to multinational oil companies: "'We will lose control over Iraqi oil. Therefore, the social progress in Iraq will be curtailed substantially, because the oil companies want huge profits; they are not concerned about the environment, wages, or living conditions...." The IFOU calls for immediate and complete withdrawal of all foreign forces from Iraq. The union represents 26,000 members in 10 state oil and gas companies across four governorates in the south of Iraq.

The Union was moved to public protest after initiating a strike on June 4, 2007, over a range of workplace issues and in opposition to the proposed Oil Law. IFOU leaders have said their members are prepared to strike again in defense of their nationalized oil industry. Iraq's oil has been in the public sector since the 1970s.

The call to demonstrate was also sparked by increased pressure by the Bush administration on the Iraqi Parliament to pass the Oil Law, which would open two thirds of Iraq's oil to foreign control through contracts that could last as long as 30 years. Adoption of the law is one of the benchmarks imposed on Iraq by the U.S. as a condition of continued reconstruction aid and support for the Maliki government.

Unions, other organizations and individuals around the world are calling on their elected representatives to demand that the U.S. government stop pressuring the Iraqis to pass the Oil Law. In the U.S., the labor and antiwar movements are calling on members of Congress who say they're against the war to drop the Oil Law benchmark and cease all U.S. pressure on the Iraqis to transform their oil industry for the benefit of multinational oil corporations. The activists will also focus on the International Oil Companies who have helped draft that Oil Law, have applied their own pressure on the Iraqis to pass the law, and seek to now profit from the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Video of the demonstration

For further information, go to: www.priceofoil.org or www.uslaboragainstwar.org.

[1] Demands from the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions to Parliament include to: (1) reject the proposed oil law; (2) expel the current Oil Minister; (3) abolish the recently announced hike in oil and gas prices in Iraq; and (4) pass a law to establish labor rights and legalize trade unions.

Contact: For information on the Iraq Oil Law: Antonia Juhasz, Oil Change International (415) 846-5447. For information on the Oil Workers Union and Protest in Basra: Denice Lombard, U.S. Labor Against the War (202) 320-5588.

www.fleshandstone.net

Kathlyn Stone is a Twin Cities, Minnesota-based writer covering science and medicine, health care and other national and international polices that affect our daily lives.

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Rady Ananda is a self-employed researcher, trained and experienced in legal investigations, and holds a BS in Natural Resources. She has been studying election integrity issues and investigating election records since November 2, 2004, contributing research, analysis and public outreach materials to the public domain. She has conducted parallel elections, signature audits and has participated in official recounts. "A vote on the machine is a vote for the machine." All material offered here is ...

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Rady AnandaRady Ananda is a self-employed researcher, trained and experienced in legal investigations, and holds a BS in Natural Resources. She has been studying election integrity issues and investigating election records since November 2, 2004, contributing research, analysis and public outreach materials to the public domain. She has conducted parallel elections, signature audits and has participated in official recounts. "A vote on the machine is a vote for the machine." All material offered here is ...

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Operation Iraqi Liberation - OIL

Our govs would have retained some integrity had they kept the initial name of this illegal war.

These demonstrations make it patently obvious now that multinational oil companies have been drooling for those oil fields (the 2nd largest oil reserve in the world, reportedly).

Maybe some group, somewhere on the planet, can finally stop Big Oil.... btw, I love the graphic.

by Rady Ananda (56 articles, 170 quicklinks, 17 diaries, 390 comments) on Monday, July 16, 2007 at 7:18:32 PM

Kathlyn Stone is a Twin Cities, Minnesota-based writer covering science and medicine, health care and other national and international polices that affect our daily lives.
Kathlyn StoneKathlyn Stone is a Twin Cities, Minnesota-based writer covering science and medicine, health care and other national and international polices that affect our daily lives.

The UK has half a dozen, maybe more groups

fighting the oil companies' global takeover.

One group or even one country can't do it alone. We need much more international cooperation so it was good to see USLAW and Oil Change teaming up on this announcement. And UFP&J helped get the word out, too.

I like the graphic, too! Nice and clean. Check this one out.

by Kathlyn Stone (30 articles, 179 quicklinks, 16 diaries, 488 comments) on Monday, July 16, 2007 at 8:20:09 PM

Tim was banned from the site for posting private email from the publisher to him on his blog, and then attacking the publisher and the site in emails and articles. OEN has no responsibility to publish articles from people who attack the site.

Tim's accusations that he was banned for his political positions are untrue. Check his articles. He repetitively wrote about and had published exactly the things he claimed he was banned for doing.

Former Chairman of the Liberal ...

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Timothy V. GattoTim was banned from the site for posting private email from the publisher to him on his blog, and then attacking the publisher and the site in emails and articles. OEN has no responsibility to publish articles from people who attack the site.

Tim's accusations that he was banned for his political positions are untrue. Check his articles. He repetitively wrote about and had published exactly the things he claimed he was banned for doing.

Former Chairman of the Liberal ...

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The American People Don't Know This.

Why? Because the MSM don;t tell the American people. The Iraqi People have never seen a profit from their oil since they popped the first well. The MSM is culpable and should be taken to task for not disclosing exactly what it contains. Most Americans believe that it is there so that the Iraqi people can "share" the oil between the three factions equally. They have no oidea that we are stealing their oil. If I were Michael Bloomberg and ghad the media resources that he has, I would scream it from the bloody rooftops! If he were really a statesman, that's exactly what he would do.

by Timothy V. Gatto (348 articles, 177 quicklinks, 38 diaries, 575 comments) on Tuesday, July 17, 2007 at 4:42:22 AM

I am a 63 year old semi retired citizen who has always believed that we live in the greatest country in the world. I am now deeply concerned about the direction our country is headed. I pray for the future of our young ones.
Ron McCallieI am a 63 year old semi retired citizen who has always believed that we live in the greatest country in the world. I am now deeply concerned about the direction our country is headed. I pray for the future of our young ones.

Oil Law

It has long been my opinion that the reason Bush won't stop the surge is because of the oil companies wanting to steal the oil rights of Iraq. If we were to leave and let the Iraqis have their oil, put the Iraqis back to work, the insurgency would die down. Those people are not stupid. They can see the handwriting on the wall if the oil companies take control of 70% of their oil

by Ron McCallie (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 74 comments) on Tuesday, July 17, 2007 at 8:29:18 AM

Agree. If you read Ben Lando, an energy reporter w/UPI

who is on the ground, interviewing all stakeholders, and has done a fantastic job covering this issue, you'll see that opposition to the oil law is uniting Iraqis like nothing else has.

It's as if the reason for the invasion and opposition has chrystalized in Iraq, if not in the U.S. The pretense that the US is in Iraq to bring freedom, democracy - even security - is dead and buried.

by Kathlyn Stone (30 articles, 179 quicklinks, 16 diaries, 488 comments) on Tuesday, July 17, 2007 at 8:45:13 AM

Martin Zehr is an American political writer in the San Francisco area whose article on the Kirkuk Referendum has been printed by the Kurdish Regional Government, http://www.moera-krg.org/articles/detail.asp?smap=01030000&lngnr=12&anr=12121&rnr=140 Another article was reprinted in its entirety by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) http://www.puk.org/web/htm/news/nws/news070514.html He is a Contributing Writer to Kurdish Aspect www.kurdishaspect.com/AboutUs.html where his articles have app...

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Martin ZehrMartin Zehr is an American political writer in the San Francisco area whose article on the Kirkuk Referendum has been printed by the Kurdish Regional Government, http://www.moera-krg.org/articles/detail.asp?smap=01030000&lngnr=12&anr=12121&rnr=140 Another article was reprinted in its entirety by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) http://www.puk.org/web/htm/news/nws/news070514.html He is a Contributing Writer to Kurdish Aspect www.kurdishaspect.com/AboutUs.html where his articles have app...

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The Kurdistan Regional Government Supports the Oil Law

Please do not presume that any Iraqi union represents the Kurdish nation. They have a government, the Kurdistan Regional Government, that unlike the US government, speaks for the people. All too often American writers lump any Kurdish governmental policy as if it were just another sectarian point of view. You might do well to ask why Kirkuk was targeted for the latest mass murder. The Baathists and the Turkish militarists remain adamant against accepting any popular vote that would incorporate Kirkuk into the Kurdish Autonomous Region. The Kirkuk Referendum is scheduled for November. You are right to presume that oil is an important source of national revenue. The Kurdish nation feels so as well.

Prime Minister Barzani calls on Iraq federal government to move forward on agreed revenue sharing and oil laws

Erbil, Kurdistan Region-Iraq (KRG.org) - Mr Nechirvan Barzani, Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region, today called upon the federal government to move quickly and take the agreed draft Revenue Sharing Law and agreed draft Oil and Gas Law to the Council of Representatives (Iraq’s federal parliament).

He said, “The sooner the agreed drafts are enacted into law, the better for all Iraqi peoples. While this law is vital for Iraqis, it is also important that we demonstrate to the international community that we are capable of bringing this law into action.”

“We are concerned that the agreed drafts have been bogged down in an obscure committee in Baghdad - called the ‘Shura Council’, which has made unauthorised material changes to the agreed drafts, apparently in consultation with unnamed oil ministry officials in Baghdad. This is not acceptable. It is a delaying tactic that must be swept aside. The agreed drafts must be reinstated and put to the Parliament.”

The Prime Minister added, “Kurdistan Alliance members in the federal parliament are anxious to move forward on the texts to which the KRG and the federal government agreed. We encourage other political blocs who care about the viability of a federal Iraq to take a similar attitude, so that these two important laws can be enacted as soon as possible”.

The draft Revenue Sharing Law will, when enacted, provide for the sharing of all petroleum revenue, wherever derived, to be shared on a per capita basis throughout Iraq, with a guaranteed allocation for the Kurdistan Region. The draft Oil and Gas Law will establish the basis for cooperative petroleum management throughout Iraq, with the Kurdistan Region voluntarily delegating some of its constitutional petroleum powers to a Federal Oil and Gas Council.

The draft Revenue Sharing Law was agreed between the KRG and the federal authorities on 20 June. The draft Oil and Gas Law was agreed between the Kurdistan Regional Government and the federal government, and approved by the Iraq Council of Ministers, in February this year.

The draft Iraq Revenue Sharing Law is available in English and Arabic. The draft Iraq Oil and Gas Law is available in English and Arabic.

For inquiries, please contact spokesman(at)krg.org

by Martin Zehr (34 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 74 comments) on Tuesday, July 17, 2007 at 8:49:38 AM

Born in 1942 in NE Oklahoma, educated and raised in NE California, joined the Navy at 17 and was shipped to Yokosuka, Japan. There I was able to buy all the books that were banned in the USA. Married & divorced twice, AA degree in Lib. Arts. Now disabled w/ COPD, I live in the house that my mother left me and spend a lot of time on the computer and reading.
Chuck GarnerBorn in 1942 in NE Oklahoma, educated and raised in NE California, joined the Navy at 17 and was shipped to Yokosuka, Japan. There I was able to buy all the books that were banned in the USA. Married & divorced twice, AA degree in Lib. Arts. Now disabled w/ COPD, I live in the house that my mother left me and spend a lot of time on the computer and reading.

The GOP knows it- and they're okay with it.

The GOP has to be the stupidest, most self- destructive political party that has ever existed, and if we let them continue, they will kill the rest of us as well as the planet. The central point of "An Inconvenient Truth" was that using oil to the exclusion of all other alternative forms of energy is the sole cause of global warming. This is why ExxonMobil is spending billions of dollars trying to suppress this fact, and why the Oiligarchy is destroying us in it's brainless drive to keep the petro dollars flowing in. So now it's become, literally, a fight to the death. None of us can sit this one out. If we allow the GOP to continue running things, we will all die.

by Chuck Garner (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 118 comments) on Tuesday, July 17, 2007 at 8:54:39 AM

Professor Bagnolo is a Renaissance man: Cultural Anthropologist, Architectural designer, painter, writer, novelist, theologian. As a child prodigy, abed with polio for almost two years, with an off the charts IQ, reading at the graduate level by 5th grade, offered an opportunity to skip three grades at age 8.Later He was a recipient of an Art Institute scholarship at age 11, a Ford Foundation Fellowship in Anthropology and in Painting and a merit scholarship in art, and was appointed a Graduate ...

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Professor Emeritus Peter BagnoloProfessor Bagnolo is a Renaissance man: Cultural Anthropologist, Architectural designer, painter, writer, novelist, theologian. As a child prodigy, abed with polio for almost two years, with an off the charts IQ, reading at the graduate level by 5th grade, offered an opportunity to skip three grades at age 8.Later He was a recipient of an Art Institute scholarship at age 11, a Ford Foundation Fellowship in Anthropology and in Painting and a merit scholarship in art, and was appointed a Graduate ...

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Kathlyn Stone

Great Story Kathlyn Stone.

by Professor Emeritus Peter Bagnolo (144 articles, 1 quicklinks, 85 diaries, 1112 comments) on Tuesday, July 17, 2007 at 10:06:11 AM

I live in the heart of America, and am haunted by the saying:
"Evil succeeds because good men do nothing." by Edmund Burke.

Albert Einstein had another way of saying it:
"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing."

So I do what I can.
Edward Ulysses CateI live in the heart of America, and am haunted by the saying:
"Evil succeeds because good men do nothing." by Edmund Burke.

Albert Einstein had another way of saying it:
"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing."

So I do what I can.

Leeches on our trade

Iraqi's have oil, but can't use it all. Midwesterner's have corn and wheat, but can't eat it all. We'd like to trade to the benefit of both parties. But the Merchants of Grain, and the Merchants of Oil want their lion's share for producing absolutely nothing. The mob lives! The old men want their trophy wives, and their sons want their Ferraris. There's gonna be a fight somewhere down the road, sometime soon. They're ready for us with all their privately owned prisons, but even those aren't enough to hold millions of Americans.

by Edward Ulysses Cate (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 211 comments) on Tuesday, July 17, 2007 at 1:58:55 PM

Been around the block a few times.
Blue PilgrimBeen around the block a few times.

Kurds

The Kurds want independence and oppose the changes because it would reduce that. This seems to have to do with autonomy than the economics of the oil companies grabbing most of the profits. But then, if the Kurds could sign their own contracts, then it would be harder for the corporations to grab Kurdish oil through a central government deal.

A key question, hoever, is if this is "Kurdish oil", or "Iraqi oil", and that depends on how much Iraq is broken up into independent regions.

Forbes article

AFX News Limited

Kurdish official says Iraqi draft oil law changed 'substantially'
07.11.07, 12:56 PM ET

ARBIL, Iraq (Thomson Financial) - Iraq's controversial draft oil law has undergone substantial changes that threaten the interests of the northern Kurdish region, a senior Kurdish official said.

Ashti Horami, minister for natural resources in the autonomous administration in the northern Kurdish region, said a key change pertained to new oil exploration contracts.

'The most significant change is that they have added a clause that says that oil exploration contracts would be decided by the central government,' Horami was quoted saying by Agence France-Presse at a session of the regional parliament.

[...]

Kurds Reject Draft Oil Law

Posted GMT 7-12-2007 15:1:48

Meaningful debate of Iraq's draft oil law could be stifled by news that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) will not accept the version currently before parliament.

Last week there was confusion about the draft that had been forwarded by Iraq's cabinet legal committee. Now it has become clear, in the words of the KRG's minister of natural resources Ashti Hawrami, "that the law has been changed fundamentally, therefore it cannot be accepted by the KRG."

According to Eamad Mazouri, the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) general representative in the UAE, Baghdad had said the changes to the draft were only linguistic.

"According to Hawrami, Baghdad was suppose to send [the KRG] the draft law along with annexes, including the one defining the distribution of revenues and a contract sample," said Mazouri. "However [the KRG] only received a revised version of the draft law and one annex concerning the distribution of oil revenues."

In a conference at the Kurdistan parliament, attended by both Iraqi and Kurdish MPs, the federal government speaker Ali Al-Dabahg claimed that the changes are not binding, since the whole draft law will need to be voted on in the Iraqi parliament.

"The KRG will continue to insist on Kurdistan's rights in this law, as well as any other law that is against the current constitution [or] trying to diminish Kurds' legitimate rights," said Mazouri.

By Stuart Matthews
www.arabianbusiness.com

Al Jazeera reported in April

SUNDAY, APRIL 29, 2007
22:46 MECCA TIME, 19:46 GMT

Kurds to 'block' Iraq oil law
Iraq's Kurdish region has said it will try to block a draft oil law in parliament, raising the stakes in a row with the central government.
The Kurdistan autonomous region backed the draft law in February but has disputed annexes to it that would give control of oilfields to a new state-run oil company.

Ashti Hawrami, minister of natural resources in Kurdistan, said: "These annexes are unconstitutional and will not be supported by the Kurdish regional government in the federal parliament."
The Kurdistan autonomous region could be on a collision course with Baghdad over the US-backed draft.

The threat to fight the bill in Iraq's national parliament comes just days after the oil ministry in Baghdad warned regions against signing contracts until the law was passed.
[...]
'Old regime'
Officials from the Iraqi government and Kurdistan have clashed over the annexes, raising the prospect of delays that have already dogged the lengthy drafting of the legislation.
Hawrami repeated a threat that his oil-rich region would implement its own oil laws if no agreement was reached on the dispute over the annexes.
And Kurdish officials have already signed deals with foreign oil companies.
"The annexes must recognise that the Kurdish regional government has already allocated exploration and development blocks in the Kurdistan region under Production Sharing Agreements pursuant to the Iraq Constitution," he said.
[...]
In a reference to Saddam Hussein, Hawrami said the newly created Iraq National Oil Company (INOC) would be a return to "old regime methods".
"The concentration of power in the hands of INOC will represent a return to method of petroleum management of previous Iraqi regimes.
"Where centralised oil power was ... used to fund violent campaigns by elites against neighbouring countries and against our own Iraqi citizens," he said.
[...]

by Blue Pilgrim (0 articles, 3 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 998 comments) on Tuesday, July 17, 2007 at 2:01:22 PM

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