Attention Kossacks! Looking for work? Need a full-time gig for a few years with great pay and benefits? Can you speak Arabic? Are you willing to set aside any of those pesky scruples or morals you may have picked up somewhere along the way? Well, today's your lucky day! Your government wants to pay you -- that's right, YOU! -- big bucks to assist those struggling multi-national oil companies to steal the wealth of the Iraqi people right out from under their feet... literally!
details after the jump...
I have written previously about the Hydrocarbon Law, also known as the Iraqi Oil Law. In this diary I explained, to the best of my feeble ability, just what exactly the Hydrocarbon Law really is and why we should stand with the Iraqi people in opposing it. Prior to that, I had written about some of the Iraqi opposition to the thievery. Early yesterday, I diaried* about an important new development in the Iraqi opposition to the Hydrocarbon Law. Today, my fellow Kossacks, I come bearing opportunity!
Commerce Seeks Adviser for Iraq Oil Interests
By Walter Pincus
Monday, September 10, 2007; Page A13
The United States is getting ready now for the Iraqi government to get its house in order and pass a detailed law that will govern the future handling of its vast oil fields, which contain the world's third-largest proven petroleum reserves.
In preparation for that moment, and in apparent hope that the United States will be central to the process for years to come, the Commerce Department is seeking an international legal adviser who is fluent in Arabic "to provide expert input, when requested" to "U.S. government agencies or to Iraqi authorities as they draft the laws and regulations that will govern Iraq's oil and gas sector."
......
In addition, the contractor is to review "the draft by-laws of the Iraqi agencies that will be created to grant exploration and exploitation licenses, to enter into joint venture agreements with foreign firms . . . . and to regulate Iraq's hydrocarbon sector." The contractor is "to plan technical workshops and seminars geared toward the legal issues critical to the oil and gas sectors."
The initial contract only runs through next July, I'm afraid, but it does have optional extensions through 2010. Even better, you'd only be required to actually work 360 hours per year to earn your dough. There is one minor detail to think about, though...
There is one recognition that given the situation in Iraq, things may change for the United States in that country. The proposal states that "in case of events beyond the control of the parties," the Commerce Department and the contractor "will agree upon a new schedule and period of performance."
*Note to reader's of yesterday's diary: My apologies for appearing to have abandoned the diary so soon. I had computer problems** which took me a while to resolve.
**Computer problems = dummy sitting in front of it!