Iraq Study Group Calls For Complete Privatization Of Iraqi Oil Industry

[Jcrowley]

In its heavily anticipated report released on Wednesday, the Iraq Study Group made at least four truly radical proposals.

The report calls for the United States to assist in privatizing Iraq's national oil industry, opening Iraq to private foreign oil and energy companies, providing direct technical assistance for the "drafting" of a new national oil law for Iraq, and assuring that all of Iraq's oil revenues accrue to the central government. President Bush hired an employee from the U.S. consultancy firm Bearing Point Inc. over a year ago to advise the Iraq Oil Ministry on the drafting and passage of a new national oil law. As previously drafted, the law opens Iraq's nationalized oil sector to private foreign corporate investment, but stops short of full privatization. The ISG report, however, goes further, stating that "the United States should assist Iraqi leaders to reorganize the national oil industry as a commercial enterprise." In addition, the current Constitution of Iraq is ambiguous as to whether control over Iraq's oil should be shared among its regional provinces or held under the central government. The report specifically recommends the latter: "Oil revenues should accrue to the central government and be shared on the basis of population." If these proposals are followed, Iraq's national oil industry will be privatized and opened to foreign firms, and in control of all of Iraq's oil wealth.

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Baker had much to gain from increased access to Iraq's oil. According to author Robert Bryce, Baker and his immediate family's personal investments in the oil industry at the time of the first Gulf War included investments in Amoco, Exxon and Texaco. The family law firm, Baker Botts, has represented Texaco, Exxon, Halliburton and Conoco Phillips, among other companies, in some cases since 1914 and in many cases for decades. (Eagleburger is also connected to Halliburton, having only recently departed the company's board of directors). Baker is a longtime associate and now senior partner of Baker Botts, which this year, for the second year running, was recipient of "The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers Oil & Gas Law Firm of the Year Award," while the Middle East remains a central focus of the firm.

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/45190/

"The United States should assist Iraqi leaders to reorganize the national oil industry as a commercial enterprise, in order to enhance efficiency, transparency and accountability,"

[Sapere aude]

1. I don't understand if this is a good thing or not. After WWII the oil was privatized

and then the Arab nations nationalized it. What is the reason to go back to privatization other than a few handful of people will get wealthy off of it?

IT IS ALL ABOUT OIL NOW AND IT ALWAYS WAS!

The war is not about insurgents or about terrorists. It is about who will make money off of the last remaining oil reserves on this earth. All the talk about terror and democracy are a smoke screen. We are suckers for falling for it.

The plan now is how do we get out of Iraq and still hang on to the oil wealth. Not you and me but BushCo

[Jcrowley]

2. ISG is more of the same

It's called theft and smothered by 100 page documents that pretend to offer a solution. It's called colonialism no matter how many documents are trotted out to rationalize it.

Operation Corporate Freedom: The IMF and World Bank in Iraq

By Basav Sen, Mobilization for Global Justice, and Hope Chu, 50 Years is Enough Network

While the three-year U.S. occupation of Iraq faces a quagmire in operations, the economic forces of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank are moving full speed ahead implementing various economic reforms that will cause U.S.-based corporations - Bechtel, Halliburton, and others - to proclaim, "Mission Accomplished!" As the Bush administration touts its rhetoric of freedom and liberation, the IMF and World Bank are busily "liberating" Iraq's resources - oil and labor - and "freeing" Iraq's markets. The recent rise in fuel prices in Iraq and the subsequent riots are just a glimpse of what the future holds for Iraq under IMF and World Bank plans.

Stage One: Debt cancellation for Iraq, increased control for the IMF

Shortly after the start of the US occupation of Iraq, the Bush administration sent former Secretary of State James Baker on a pilgrimage to the capitals of other wealthy countries to seek cancellation of Saddam Hussein's odious debts. In a move that seemed inexplicable at first, the Bush administration was using the principle of odious debt to ask for cancellation of Iraq's Saddam Hussein-era debt.

Now, the political motivations behind this unexpected move are clear. The cancellation of Iraq's debt is a Trojan horse for the IMF, World Bank, and WTO to enter Iraq and start restructuring the economy further, continuing where Paul Bremer's Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) left off. In a move reminiscent of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) program, not only debt but debt relief is being used as a tool to restructure Iraq’s economy.

http://www.50years.org/cms/updates/story/320