The Bush administration has a mantra: Iraq's oil
"belongs to the Iraqi people." But he didn't
really mean it, did he? How can one resist dipping into the
second largest oil reserve in the world?.
So this week, we find out plans to privatize Iraqi oil. This isn't surprising, considering "privatize" is one of Bush's favorite three syllable words.
"Promising to American investors"
WASHINGTON - The United States is helping the interim Iraqi government continue to make major economic changes, including cuts to social subsidies, full access for U.S. companies to the nation's oil reserves and reconsideration of oil deals that the previous regime signed with France and Russia.
During a visit here this week, officials of the U.S.-backed administration detailed some of the economic moves planned for Iraq, many of them appearing to give U.S. corporations greater reach into the occupied nation's economy.
For example, the current leadership is looking at privatizing the Iraqi National Oil Company, said Finance Minister Adil Abdel Mahdi.
The government, which is supposed to be replaced after elections scheduled for January, will also pass a new law that will further open Iraq's huge oil reserves to foreign companies. U.S. firms are expected to gain the lion's share of access in a process estimated to be worth billions of dollars.
"So I think this is very promising to the American investors and to American enterprises, certainly to oil companies," Abdel Mahdi said at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on Tuesday.
American companies have already taken hold of Iraqi's oil industry. Remember how Iraq's oil was going to pay for the reconstruction? Actually, Bush has scrapped that plan and has decided the American taxpayer should bear the cost. So we see him asking for $80 billion after $80 billion, all for reconstruction. At the same time, we see that only about $2 billion has actually been spent.
Speaking of $2 billion, that's roughly the amount Bush begged Congess for back in 2003 for "crucial repairs to the oil industry." The Army Corps of Engineers, the agency overseeing the oil reconstruction, was never consulted about this "extra need" for funds.
Meanwhile, Halliburton has received$10 billion dollars in contracts, one of them being to rebuild Iraqi oil infrastructure. Chevron-Texaco is equipping and training Iraqi oil workers. And American oil companies are already lining up to control that oil that "belongs to the Iraqis":
Several oil majors have begun positioning themselves to be able to tap into Iraq's vast oil reserves, which are second only to Saudi Arabia. Some oil producers have already been shortlisted to study key oilfields in the country, while others are offering free training and support to the oil ministry.
Among US oil companies, ConocoPhillips has publicly pushed for access to Iraq's West Qurna oilfield through its stake in Russian oil company LUKOIL. The Russian company gained license rights for the field during the administration of Saddam Hussein.
All these American companies already in Iraq, being paid billions to "secure" Iraqi oil, and what do we have? The Iraqis are being robbed blind:
"A daylight robbery is going in Iraq. I have first hand information from sources in al-Bakr port in southern Iraq, and in the Turkish port of Jihan, confirming that
three million oil barrels are being taken out of Iraq on a daily basis" al-Dulaymi said.
"Oil sale contracts only go to the Iraqi oil ministry for signing. They cannot say a word about them; not to mention the fact that there are many sealed contracts which the Iraqi ministry of oil is not notified of."
Al-Dulaymi says the Bush administration is benefiting from the process.
"When oil prices surpassed $30 last year, Bush sent his Energy Secretary to the Middle East, who held talks with Saudi Arabia and other oil producers to reduce prices.
"But here we are now; oil prices have reached $40 and not a word from the Bush administration. Why? Because they are benefitting. Definitely, they will not sacrifice such revenue and give it to Iraqis."
Is there any redress for Iraqis? Well, let's look at little-known Executive Order 13303. That order is entitled "Protecting the Development Fund for Iraq and Certain Other Property in Which Iraq Has an Interest."
I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, find that
the threat of attachment or other judicial process against the Development Fund for Iraq, Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products, and interests therein, and proceeds, obligations, or any financial instruments of any nature whatsoever arising from or related to the sale or marketing thereof, and interests therein,
obstructs the orderly reconstruction of Iraq, the restoration and maintenance of peace and security in the country, and the development of political, administrative, and economic institutions in Iraq* This situation constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States and
I hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat.
I hereby order:
Section 1. Unless licensed or otherwise authorized pursuant to this order, any attachment, judgment, decree, lien, execution, garnishment, or other judicial process is prohibited, and shall be deemed null and void, with respect to the following:
(a) the Development Fund for Iraq, and
(b) all Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products, and interests therein, and proceeds, obligations, or any financial instruments of any nature whatsoever arising from or related to the sale or marketing thereof, and interests therein, in which any foreign country or a national thereof has any interest, that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of United States persons.
By that order, Bush has absolved any and all American oil companies from liability. So if an American company gets caught in a scandal, or if they are negligent and their refinery in Iraq blows up and kills thousands of Iraqis, there is no way to sue them. In essence, anyone that touches Iraqi oil has free reign, and is not burdened by such formalities as "legal responsibility". Bush granted his friends broad immunity from any evironmental damage, any human rights abuses, ANYTHING...due process and justice in relation to the Iraqi oil business is "null and void."
So let's get this straight. First, we invade their country and secure the Oil Ministry first. Then, we use billions of dollars of American money to "secure and repair" the Iraqi oil infrastructure. Then it turns out we did a shitty job, and oil is being "lost" and "smuggled out of the country." Then we install a government that can't wait to get in good with American oil companies, who are waiting on the sidelines, licking their lips, waiting for the appropriate moment (after the villages have stopped smoldering, that is) to come in and take over the Iraqi oil. And then, finally, Bush quietly signs an order protecting the companies that go in and "managage" Iraqi oil or any company involved in the Iraqi oil business.
Oh, and one more thing. Iraq recently awarded its first "post-war" oilfield contracts. The recipients? A Canadian and a Turkish company. Why not an American company? Well, because they've already dipped in enough, I guess. And anyway, a $500 million conract is chump change, right?