And they said it wasn't about the oil. The Independent reported on January 7:
The US government has been involved in drawing up the law... would give big oil companies such as BP, Shell and Exxon 30-year contracts to extract Iraqi crude and allow the first large-scale operation of foreign oil interests in the country since the industry was nationalised in 1972.
Apparently the oil would be extracted through PSA's (profit sharing agreements) fashioned by the U.S. that would allow oil companies to hoard 75 percent of the profits, at least until they've recouped the initial costs of setting up the operations, then the profit drops to 20 percent.
This capitalist tactic is a very rare occurence in the Middle East, since oil production is state controlled, and opponents say this will cause the Iraqi government to "surrender an unacceptible degree of sovereignty."
The spin is that this will be doing the Iraqi's a favor:
Oil industry executives and analysts say the law, which would permit Western companies to pocket up to three-quarters of profits in the early years, is the only way to get Iraq's oil industry back on its feet after years of sanctions, war and loss of expertise.