Oil Law Brings US Intentions Into Focus
Poll: Iraqis Want National Oil Companies to Develop Iraqi Oil
by Robert Naiman
Here’s one thing we can credit the Bush Administration for: its invasion of Iraq has made more apparent what our government is doing when it “promotes democracy in the Middle East.” Before, there was much to illustrate the contradiction between rhetoric and reality. But in the past, U.S. officials could “poor-mouth” their influence: “we’re doing what we can.”
Now that the U.S. is an occupying power in Iraq, the role of the U.S. is in sharper focus. The power of the U.S. in Iraq is not absolute. U.S. officials have to negotiate with Iraqi power centers. But the U.S. has powerful influence. And the direction in which this influence is being exercised is more visible than usual.
Case in point: U.S. efforts to pressure the Iraqi parliament to pass a hydrocarbon law, reorganizing the oil industry. If a goal of the Bush Administration is truly to promote democracy, then what Iraqis actually think of this law is a critical question.
We now have some evidence about this, and the evidence suggests that the majority of Iraqis do not support the law that the Bush Administration is trying to impose.
Oil Change International commissioned a poll. More than six-in-ten (63%) of all respondents said they preferred that Iraqi companies rather than foreign firms take the lead in developing Iraq’s oil (32% “strongly,” 31% “moderately”).
The poll also found that three-quarters of Iraqis say their government has provided either “totally inadequate” or “somewhat inadequate” information on the draft oil law, as Ben Lando noted in a UPI analysis .
more...
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/08/07/3052/
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