If You Can't Steal National Oil, Steal Regional Oil

The grossly unjust "hydrocarbon law", which is considered one of the key benchmarks of "success" in Iraq by the Bush Administration, has been met with continued failure in the Iraqi parliament. In effect, the law privatizes over 90% of Iraqi Oil reserves to multinational companies, particularly U.S. oil companies. Further, it not only gives the rights to these oil companies to do business in Iraq, but enables them to have power in making the decisions over the contracts themselves. That is, a Federal Council is established to make decisions upon oil contract negotiations, which allows these private oil companies to be represented on the "Federal" board and thus influencing the approval and terms of contracts.

Yet, the greedy fervor that drives many of these oil companies may have finally found a way around the problem: pressure the Federal Authority by making what is, according to Iraq's oil minister Hussain al-Shahristani, not, illegal regional deals. And it doesn't hurt to have some friends:

CBS/AP) Texas' Hunt Oil Co. and Kurdistan's regional government said they have signed a production-sharing contract for petroleum exploration in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq, the first such deal since the Kurds passed their own oil and gas law in August.

Hunt, who is also on the board of Halliburton, has been a key fundraiser for President George W. Bush, who named him to the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.

Dennis Kucinich, the only candidate to have consistently spoken out against this war, and had the guts to tell the American people what even Alan Greenspan knows about Iraq-it's about the oil-is calling for a Congressional investigation into the matter:

“The recent oil deal between the U.S.-based Hunt Oil Company and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) raises questions. Hunt Oil, a privately held oil company based in Texas and its founder, Ray Hunt, have close ties to Vice President Cheney and are large donors to President Bush.

“The deal also appears to undercut the goal of oil revenue sharing but is predictably consistent with the Administration’s attempt to privatize Iraqi oil assets. Both Hunt Oil Company and Kurdistan are strong allies with the Bush Administration.

“As I have said for five years, this war is about oil. The Bush Administration desires private control of Iraqi oil, but we have no right to force Iraq to give up control of their oil. We have no right to set preconditions to Iraq which lead Iraq to giving up control of their oil. The Constitution of Iraq designates that the oil of Iraq is the property for all Iraqi people.

“I am calling for a Congressional investigation to determine the role the Administration may have played in the Hunt-Kurdistan deal, the effect the deal will have on the oil revenue sharing plan and the attempt by the Administration to privatize Iraqi oil.

“The Administration misled Congress and the media into thinking that oil legislation was about ‘fair distribution.’”

Kucinich then sent a letter sent a letter to Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA)

requesting a full committee investigation to explore Hunt Oil’s production sharing agreement and what role the Administration may have played to help Hunt Oil get the agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government.

The subject of Oil and the way that it has lead to our invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq only seems to be understood by Kucinich. As usual, none of the "top tier" wants to acknowledge the grim truth and for that they will keep our country in Iraq indefinitely. No one else has laid out a plan as practical and forward looking as H.R. 1234, Kucinich's withdraw plan, which understands our continued presence and the expolitive motives it serves, such as this oil privatization, is driving this insurgency and must be addressed. Quite farnkly, though the media creates the contrary image, Kucinich is the most practical of our candidates. We need to support him.